OMD Worldwide is a media communications agency. It is a subsidiary of

Omnicom Group Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City. Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...

and an Omnicom Media Group agency considered the holding company's "media specialist brand". Omnicom Media Group is the media services division of Omnicom Group. OMD is headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and its chief executive officer is George Manas.

History

The agency network was formed in Paris in October 1996 as Optimum Media Direction. It combined the European media operations of

Omnicom Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City. Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...

's ad agencies

DDB Needham DDB Worldwide Communications Group LLC, known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. The international advertising networks ...

and

BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...

that were then known as Optimum Media and Media Direction, respectively. The establishment of OMD was seen as Omnicom's first step towards leaving a media-buying joint venture with WPP called The Media Partnership. DDB Needham introduced the Optimum Media name for its media buying activities in the United States, Latin America and Asia-Pacific in conjunction with the launch of OMD in Europe, but didn't consolidate them with other parts of Omnicom at the time. In 2000, DDB's, BBDO's and

TBWA\Chiat\Day TBWA\Chiat\Day ( ) is the American division of the advertising agency TBWA Worldwide. Created in the 1995 merger of TBWA and Chiat/Day, the agency operates offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville, and Mexico City. Prior to the merger, ...

's US media operations were also combined under the OMD name. In 2002, the company put together "the biggest single media deal in history" with a $1 billion cross-media pact between

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

and the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...

. The company has introduced various units for its clients such as OMD Create, a creative department, OMD Design, an end-to-end planning process, and Omni, an integrated marketing operating system. In September 2017, OMD announced that Florian Adamski would be the company's next chief executive officer and John Osborn, of BBDO New York, would be its U.S. CEO. The company also established "Better Decisions, Faster" as its promise. OMD led the "2019 New Business Barometer" for global media networks according to COMvergence, an international independent research company, and was the top-ranked media agency in total billings for 2019. In 2021-09-20,

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

announced its consolidation of global media, brand and performance marketing into one holding company, Omnicom Group. To service the client, Omnicom created Team X, a dedicated unit that would handle all facets of the brand's global communications, including creative, CRM, media, digital and more across all 45 markets. As part of the process, Omnicom was acquiring two agencies, antoni, a Berlin-based, digital shop and OSK, a German PR and communications agency. In November 2021, George Manas was named CEO of OMD as Adamski moved to Omnicom Media Group.

Recognition

OMD has received the ''

Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

'' "Global Media Agency of the Year" Award in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2020. ''

Ad Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...

'', a United States-based magazine, recognized OMD with its "Media Agency of the Year" in 2002, 2005, 2009 and 2011.

Subsidiaries

*OMD NA *OMD LATAM *OMD EMEA *OMD APAC

References

{{Omnicom Advertising agencies of France French companies established in 1996 Mass media companies established in 1996 Advertising agencies of the United States