In the grand tradition of athletic competition, someone has to lose.
Omnicom Media Group is set to secure Adidas' $512 million global media account, according to a person familiar with the matter, ending a relationship between the sportswear giant and WPP that began in 2018. Both WPP and Publicis Groupe had been pitching for the business.
The account will be handled by PHD, the Omnicom media agency whose roster includes Volkswagen, Google and 7-Eleven. For PHD, the win caps what can only be described as a rather agreeable week: the agency had just claimed the Media Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions festival for Uber Eats' "Build Your Own Super Bowl" campaign. (One imagines the celebratory dinners on the Croisette were slightly more buoyant than usual.)
WPP's EssenceMediacom had been managing the Adidas business, a legacy of Mediacom's original 2018 win. That agency, of course, merged with Essence in 2023 as part of WPP's ongoing efforts to simplify its organizational chart — efforts that, in this case, did not prevent the client from simplifying its own arrangements by leaving.
Representatives for WPP and Publicis declined to comment. Adidas did not respond to a request for comment. Omnicom, in the manner of victors who prefer to let the scoreboard speak, also declined to provide comment.
Global media reviews of this scale have become something of a recurring feature in the industry calendar, as marketers seek either cost efficiencies, capability upgrades, or simply a change of scenery. For Omnicom, the Adidas win represents a meaningful addition to its portfolio at a moment when the holding companies are competing fiercely for every available dollar.
For WPP, it represents the other thing that happens in athletic competition.
Original story published in adweek.com: "EXCLUSIVE: Omnicom to Win Adidas’ $512M Global Media Account"