How Global Media Agency of the Year OMD Clawed Its Way Back to the Top After Falling So Far

Commitment to making 'better decisions, faster' was just part of it

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PlayStation. Walgreens. Lowe’s. Carlsberg. Coach. Sony. Groupe PSA.

From 2016 through late 2017, several of OMD’s most valuable accounts fell like dominos as the industry-wide string of big-budget reviews continued apace. The Omnicom Media Group hub remains, by most estimates, the world’s largest media network—but after a decade-long run atop the heap, it ranked dead last among 18 agencies on consultancy COMvergence’s 2017 new business report.

“If I have the numbers right, we lost about $1.8 billion in business in 2017,” says Florian Adamski, the former Omnicom Media Group Germany chief who ascended to the global CEO role at OMD after a devastating six months with an estimated new-business value of negative $800 million.

“I think a lot of agency people have forgotten that we do not have a natural right to exist,” says Florian Adamski, global CEO, OMD.Kevin
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This story first appeared in the Feb. 25, 2019, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.