Opinion

Finally, WPP gets scary

Sixteen months ago, I wrote an opinion piece asking why nobody feared WPP’s media agencies.

Fair to say that things have changed. Friday’s Unilever victory by Mindshare (worth $45m if you believe Nielsen, $80m according to B&T, $85m by the SMH’s calculations and $100m in AFR dollars) seals the deal.

It may well be the biggest single piece of media business that changes hands all year.  

James Greet MindshareIt also marks an extraordinarily fast start for CEO James Greet, who only took the helm in June last year after a stint working in recruitment.

And it’s a very quick answer for those who questioned whether he’d be able to replicate his previous turnaround job on OMD.

When people asked why Greet didn’t have more of an immediate profile, Mediacom’s Toby Jenner was a good example. He was made CEO in 2009, but it was about nine months before the agency began to publicly make progress.

Indeed, Mindshare and Mediacom’s improved fortunes are only part of the evidence that the wider group of WPP media agencies is back on course.

Mediacom was deservedly shortlisted for B&T’s media agency of 2010. It would have probably challenged winner Ikon – itself WPP-aligned through its ownership by STW – even harder, if momentum for only the second half of the year had been taken into account. Both agencies are among those doing battle for AdNews’ media agency of the year later this month.

Behind the scenes, we’ve also seen the return of former Asia Pacific CEO John Steedman to the new role of Australian chairman of the Group M agencies.

It’s possible to see Steady’s hand behind moves to address issues at Maxus Melbourne which saw the sudden departure of chairman Ron Bartlett and MD Richard Smith late last year.

Still – mostly – below the radar is Mediaedge CIA, although the agency has already been investing in senior talent including chief innovation officer Tim Knight and restructuring and chief strategy officer James Hier.

And WPP is also taking something of a lead across the industry. Steedy is a driving force behind the plan revealed by the SMH on Friday to invest up to $10m in creating an automated trading platform.

The initiative addresses the growth in the number of media buying points – and the difficulties for all media agencies in staying on top of the booking mechanisms. (It was a situation embarrassingly showcased for Mediaedge when a memo to sales reps cancelling meetings was leaked to Mumbrella.)

But back to 16 months ago. Back then, I wrote: “Nobody seems to quite be frightened of WPP’s Group M media agencies. As far as I can tell, people don’t groan slightly when they find themselves up against them on a pitch list – certainly not in the same way they do when they’re up against Mitchells.”

That’s not true any more.

Indeed, the Australian media agency scene is now the most competitive and, for a journalist, interesting I can remember. Last year:

We’ve also seen nearly all of the big agencies investing heavily in talented strategy people – suggesting that this is a skill that clients are finally willing to pay for. It feels like the bad old days of media-planning-by-buying-power and negotiating muscle are finally over, which comes as something of a relief. I suspect we’re going to see some innovative planning across the board.

But of course, not everything is rosy for WPP in Australia. Some of the WPP PR agencies have a way to go and on the advertising side Grey is quiet and GPY&R Brands – despite the best efforts of some good people – appear to still be in the doldrums.

But WPP has shown it is capable of turning its agencies around in this market when it puts its mind to it.

If any competitor claims not to fear the Group M agencies now, they’ll be lying.

Tim Burrowes

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