In the fast-moving world we all live and work in, a brand needs to stay in tune with the needs and aspirations of its audiences while remaining true to the reality of the businesses they depict. With this in mind, OMD, an Omnicom Media Group agency and one of the 'Big Five' largest media and communications agencies in the world by revenue, has adopted a new positioning and brand to better reflect its mission today and the years to come.
A teaser ran few days ago via OMD MENA’s social media channels revealing the company’s new brand identity accompanied by the tagline “We Create What’s Next.”
Firmly anchored in the future but rooted in a long history of innovations, the new positioning echoes OMD’s intent to capitalise on "emerging technologies, behaviours and expectations to make brands more relevant and successful." It is staking its claim as the media partner with the vision, expertise, technology and scale to help brands deliver incremental sales and grow share in an increasingly dynamic business and consumer environment.
Supported by a brand refresh — enabled by Canva — that features a contemporized version of its classic red logo, “We Create What’s Next” underscores OMD’s novel and unique capacity to "leverage shifts in how consumers discover, engage, transact and love brands in an era marked by rapid acceleration in retail media, connected TV, creator and influencer ecosystems, and new and emerging touchpoints such as Generative AI Search,” as mentioned in a press statement.
“We Create What’s Next sends a straightforward message to our teams, our brand partners, and the marketplace more broadly: OMD is building on our global leadership position and legacy of innovation to reimagine how and where brands can win with consumers for the next decade,” says OMD CEO George Manas.
“It is our firm belief that doing so requires deep and unprecedented collaboration and co-creation between the agency, the client, and the marketplace, bringing forth the best that each has to offer. For our part, OMD will be leveraging Omnicom’s singular advantages in AI, data and technology; deep specialization in commerce, creators, and connected TV; and extensive experience in agency operating model innovation – all of which will be brought to bear in service of creative media solutions that help build our clients’ brands and grow their businesses”.
The new positioning was rolled out during a global town hall hosted by Manas, livestreamed to 14,000 OMD employees across more than 100 countries. During the event, Manas also highlighted OMD’s 2024 new business performance, which saw the network earning $1.8 billion in total new business (wins minus losses, including retentions) and adding Gap Inc., Michelin, AliExpress and Turkish Airlines, among others, to its client roster.
OMD, which was first incorporated in the Middle East in 2002 with offices in Dubai and Jeddah, has grown rapidly in the region to now be a leader in its field both in terms of market share and new business activity. Last year, it added more than 10 new accounts including Pizza Hut, the Qatar Free Zone Authority and Asharq.
“We owe our business and awards performance to this innovative spirit, which has been driving us forward from inception. We have an impressive track record of regional firsts in research, technology, data, services and media creativity so our new positioning builds on deep and solid foundations here too,” emphasized Saleh Ghazal, CEO of OMD MENA.
“Marketing is transforming at an unprecedented speed and future-proofing our clients’ business requires us to assemble more and more energies and specialist expertise to capitalise on every resource and meaningful opportunity. Thanks to the significant investments we’ve made into our future-building capabilities, our clients can move forward and embrace what comes next with confidence.”
In the latest edition of the highly regarded Network Diagnostics report from RECMA (Research Company Evaluating the Media Agency Industry) published in November 2024, OMD was named the best performing global media network overall, marking the eight consecutive edition in which OMD had topped the Diagnostics report.
As reported in the Global & Regional Billings Projected 2024 report published in December 2024 by COMvergence, OMD Worldwide is the #1 global media agency network by volume, with $25.9 billion in global billings (+8% YoY). This 7. 9% increase over 2023 represents both the best rate of growth among the top five agency networks as well as the largest net billings increase among all networks, with $1.9b added over the past 12 months.
It is worth reminding that this rebrand comes following the announcement back in Decemebr 2024 of Omnicom's acquisition of New York-based holding company Interpublic (IPG) in a USD 13 billion deal.
