GroupM and Omnicom are in a two-horse race to win Amazon’s gargantuan media buying and planning account with incumbent IPG Mediabrands out of the running, according to several well-placed industry sources who spoke with B&T.
The account has been handled by IPG-owned media shop Initiative since 2013, snaring it from GroupM. Initiative defended the account in 2017 with bespoke agency Rufus, beating out Publicis Media in the process. Now, however, that seems to be changing.
Amazon’s media account is the single most lucrative media planning and buying remit in all of adland worth in excess of $US2.5 billion (around $AU3.75 billion).
When news of the review hit the internet in September last year via the pages of Marketing Brew, it certainly caused a stir. Olivier Gaulthier, CEO of media account spend tracking firm COMvergence, described it as the: “GLOBAL MEDIA PITCH OF THE DECADE!”
B&T understands that Rufus, the bespoke agency created by Initiative for Amazon, will still be part of the pitching process in some local markets, including Australia.
B&T understands that Toby Jenner, now global president of GroupM clients in addition to his remit as global CEO of Wavemaker, has been running GroupM’s effort to win the Amazon account. GroupM’s approach has lent heavily on WPP Open’s software, already in use across the accounts of other big global clients including The Coca-Cola Company, L’Oréal and Nestlé.
GroupM’s work for Amazon would be similar to the OpenMind model it created for Nestlé, B&T understands. The OpenMind model plucks talent from around the holding company and deploys their skills appropriately, combined with process automation, long-term market mix modelling and a focus on bespoke creative per audience.
Omnicom, meanwhile, has been placing much stock in its $US835 million (around $AU1.26 billion) acquisition of digital commerce business Flywheel during its pitching and is confident about its chances of winning the account.
Flywheel creates digital commerce solutions and integrates them into a proprietary platform with a single user interface. The Flywheel Commerce Cloud platform manages tens of billions in product sales and billions of advertising spend annually across digital marketplaces. Flywheel. It also allows businesses to trade on Amazon.
Omnicom and Amazon are also recently thought to have signed a partnership that would enable the holdco’s planning and investment teams to “access Amazon’s proprietary browsing, shopping and streaming insights to directly tie linear and CTV investment to purchases made on Amazon,” according to DigiDay.
Omnicom and Amazon have reportedly conducted two beta tests, one through an Amazon Publisher Cloud deal with a major TV network, which both companies declined to identify when asked by DigiDay, and a second around an Amazon Prime Video campaign. Unsurprisingly, Flywheel is critical to this partnership, because that unit’s product and transactional signals are being paired with audience and viewership data in Omni, the holding company’s open operating system.
The final round of pitching in Australia is due to take place on 7 July, B&T understands. Commercial negotiations will take place in August. A final announcement is expected in September.
Two well-placed industry sources said that the Mediabrands team was out of the running. However, an exec within IPG denied that was the case to B&T.
Officially, GroupM, Omnicom and IPG declined to comment.
Updated 26/6/24: Clarified that Rufus powered by Initiative will remain part of the pitching process in a number of local markets.
