Wall Street analysts Bear Stearns told investors today that they believe Omnicom's OMD media buying group has "an edge in the ongoing J&J $3 billion media account review."
Why?
Because OMD won Media Agency of the Year at Cannes recently, Bear Stearns sez.
But is it as simple as that? This review has been dragging on a long time. One presumes that Kim Kadlec and Brian Perkins, the J&J execs who are making the decision on this, are looking a little closer at these agencies than just the glass cabinets at HQ that hold the trophies.
Bear Stearns reckons that OMD's "edge" also comes from its hot account winning streak: "Best Buy ($170m-200m), China Unicom ($60m), Birds Eye ($30), and John Deere ($20m), among others." But does J&J really want to park a massive, enormously complicated account with an agency that's already in a frenzy as it tries to staff up its new wins?
The other contenders in the review: IPG and Aegis.
Also note here that Kadlec used to work at IPG's Universal McCann buying service. One might presume that she left that shop with good feelings, otherwise IPG wouldn't be in the review.
However, Adweek reported in its email newsletter today that J&J just stripped McCann of "creative duties on all but one of its brands, Acuvue, and dividing the rest of the shop's business, worth $90 million in the U.S., among its roster agencies, which include Omnicom's DDB, WPP's JWT and IPG's Lowe, per sources. The company is also expected to hand its $35 million Splenda business to Omnicom's BBDO following a review, sources said. That work had been at Alchemy, a unit of Lowe."
That looks to me like better evidence that J&J is leaning toward OMD than the Cannes thing.
Why is this review taking so long? Can't say, but its length was extended by a couple of days when Kadlec (pictured) took a trip to Venice in April. Check out that speaker list and you'll note that all the companies competing in her review also managed to show up in the canal city. Nice work if you can get!
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