Mediaedge:cia has been deemed the most competitive media agency in new business pitches in the ninth edition of RECMA’s “Compitches” report.
The report is based on what the Paris-based research firm describes as a “quali-quanti” analysis of 2,179 account moves from 205 agencies—including 26 independents—in 15 countries last year. The analysis included 103 Canadian account moves.
Points were awarded based on a set of seven criteria including the size of the account, local wins relative to regional or global alignment, whether the pitch was media-only or part of a full review (with media-only pitches scoring higher), and the agency’s ability to handle client conflicts. Each network is assigned one of five grades, ranging from A+ down to C.
Mediaedge:cia topped the global list with 365 points, placing just ahead of fellow WPP/GroupM shop MediaCom (356 points).
Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia ranked third overall with 341 points, followed by Omnicom’s OMD with 302 points, Havas’ MPG unit with 287 points, Starcom MediaVest with 282 points and Aegis Group’s Carat network with 277. Universal McCann was the top-ranked Interpublic shop with 275 points, just ahead of sister shop Initiative with 252 points.
WPP’s MindShare rounded out the top 10 with 245 points.
According to RECMA’s senior researcher, David Lerault, three Canadian agencies—Genesis-Vizeum, M2 Universal and the independent Media Experts—were awarded the top grade of A+ for 2007. He declined to name the five agencies given a B+ grade, the five awarded a B grade and the one agency graded C.
According to Lerault, Genesis-Vizeum and MediaCom were the top Canadian agencies in terms of competitiveness for the four-year period from 2004 to 2007.
