Volkswagen has appointed Omnicom company PHD as its global media agency following a competitive review. MediaCom, a WPP agency that had handled the account for nearly two decades globally, is out.

The account is suggested to be worth more than $US3 billion, according to US trade publication AdWeek.

The win for PHD means it will now manage the accounts for Volkswagen’s plethora of brands, VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

In a statement on the PHD website a Volkswagen spokesperson said: “New digitalisation possibilities and new ways of targeting specific groups are to be put to much greater use in media planning.

“Following a review of the overall budget and an intensive pitch over a period of eight months, a new contract has been awarded for the global media budget of the Volkswagen Group. The media holding of the Omnicom Group stood out against the competition and convinced all the Group brands involved by providing trends-setting impetus in media management and a broad-based, strategically sound service range.”

B&T has contacted MediaCom for a statement but has not heard back at the time of publication.

The move is expected to begin January 2017.