The global creative and media new business landscape for 2023 proved to be relatively muted despite major accounts including Pfizer, Uber, and Kimberly-Clark put under review. The number of total accounts awarded decreased 2.9% year-on-year while overall value increased 5.3%, according to new figures from consultancy R3.
Publicis Groupe leads the New Business League holding group rankings for 2023, with its win of Pfizer pushing it past WPP, its closest competitor for the last eight years.
In total Publicis won $700m ($385m creative, $315m media); WPP $525m ($390m creative, $135m media), Interpublic $396m ($323m creative, $73m media) and Omnicom $376m ($168m creative, $208m media.)
Three independent agencies Wieden+Kennedy, M&C Saatchi Group and Mother, made the top 20 for creative wins.
The global trend of higher-value creative accounts is most pronounced in the US (+28.9%.) In
Europe, Asia Pacific, and China, Creative new business recovery was slow with companies
putting fewer accounts into review and allocating smaller budgets.
The opposite was true of media. The US registered a 187% increase in number of media
reviews at a 14.5% decrease in overall value. China’s media landscape remained strong with
fewer accounts competing for 38% more Media revenue.
R3 Principal Greg Paull says: “It’s becoming clearer where marketers prioritize creative and media. In the US and Europe, there’s growing interest in the impact of creative effectiveness on overall business growth and cultural relevance; placing a premium on impactful and innovative creative work.
“In regions where connected platforms are more critical to customer engagement and conversion, media is more important, particularly with partners that can offer CRM and data solutions. China and Asia-Pacific are two examples where media revenue is strong, and less investment finds its way to creative partnerships.”
