McDonald’s has apparently canceled its U.K. media review, leading incumbent OMD to retain the account.
That’s according to OMD, which told More About Advertising—after the London trade publication named the network its 2018 media agency of the year—that its U.K. division profited this year off of McDonald’s calling off its media pitch.
OMD and Publicis-owned Starcom had been competing for the U.K. account for months. Campaign reported in October that the review had been placed on hold with no guarantee that it would restart.
It is unclear why the review was canceled. McDonald’s did not return a request for comment. OMD declined comment.
Ebiquity, the consultancy running the review, also did not return a request for comment.
In addition to now winning the U.K. business, OMD has also retained Canada, China, Germany, Latvia/Estonia/Lithuania and half of Latin America in McDonald’s global media review launched last year (the company’s first in 14 years). Starcom, the other participating agency in the review, won France and the other half of Latin America.
The U.S. portion of the review, according to our sources, has yet to begin.
The fast food giant consolidated all of its media planning and buying duties with OMD in 2003, only one year after the network formed and inherited the business. At the time the recent review was launched, McDonald’s said it was looking to “move from a single global media agency to a small roster of preferred agency brands” to more effectively reach its customers in different markets around the world.
McDonald’s spent $702.8 million on measured media in the U.S. last year and $420.2 million in the first half of 2018, according to Kantar Media.