Omnicom Beats Publicis To Win Mercedes’ Global Agency Consolidation

Omnicom Group has won the global consolidated media, brand and performance marketing account for Mercedes-Benz, beating off Publicis Groupe after a six-month pitch process. The holding company will take the reins early in 2022.

In winning the business, Omnicom has announced it will create Team X, a dedicated unit that will handle all facets of the brand’s global communications, including all the car brand’s creative, CRM, media, digital across all 45 markets.

Previously, Mercedes’ media was handled by Omnicom, while Publicis was in charge of the creative and marketing.

As part of the win, Omnicom will also acquire two agencies, Antoni, a Berlin-based, digital shop and OSK, a German PR and communications agency. Both agencies already work with Mercedes after they collaborated during the pitch process.

Commenting on the win, Omnicom Group CEO John Wren said: “Mercedes-Benz was looking for a holistic agency partner that could help deploy a sustainable and globally consistent luxury experience for the company’s brand promise around the world for the first time.”

A spokesperson for Mercedes said the move to Omnicom was “unique in the industry” and it would create a “fully integrated, global agency model – from performance content development to media playout and success measurement – which can serve interested parties and customers with relevant information at all contact points of the customer journey.”

The German car marque added that it was looking for a new direction for its creative, too.

The spokesperson said: “To further develop the brand’s luxury positioning, Mercedes-Benz is also focusing even more on generating brand-defining experiences that lie outside the classic campaign – from events to collaborations.”

It added that it had asked both pitching agencies to invent “a concept for a fully integrated global creative agency” and “this is intended not only to create a globally consistent brand presence, but also to consider the special cultural and social characteristics in the relevant regions”.

“Omnicom Group presented a compelling approach, envisioning an integrated and tailor-made agency solution unlocking a holistic view of the consumer across every brand-defining touchpoint, experience and moment along the customer journey. The model combines the ability to further augment desirability for our brand portfolio while using powerful data to identify and capture future demand potentials,” the spokesperson said.

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