Mumbai: In 1998, Omnicom designed and built its first truly specialist media operation from the ground up – combining planning, buying, insights and client service together, and launched OMD. Today, the world’s largest media network celebrates 25 years in business, a momentous event that resonates even more in Asia because OMD Hong Kong is OMD’s first standalone full-service operation in the world.
The agency has come a long way from when the first office opened in Hong Kong with just three employees. From this market, the OMD brand expanded and in 2000, it formally became a global network where all market operations were united by a common leadership and vision. Today, OMD has a headcount of close to 2,400 in 13 offices in APAC; and 12,000 in over 100 countries globally.
OMD was born in response to an increasingly complex media landscape in the 1990s, with clients seeking greater value, transparency and negotiating power. This resulted in the separation of creative and media specialisms from full-service offerings to dedicated enterprises. Untethering the disciplines meant that media agencies could develop and grow specialist skills, implement media-neutral solutions and extract greater value for clients previously encumbered by creative dominance.
By combining technology, data, innovation, creativity, empathy, and evidence to orchestrate better business outcomes, OMD has been delivering business transformation at scale for some of the world’s leading blue-chip brands such as McDonald’s and Apple, both of whom have a long-standing relationship with OMD.
Named Cannes Lions Media Network of the Year 2022, OMD is currently ranked the best performing global media network overall by RECMA. Additionally, OMD is also the world’s most effective media agency network in the Effie Effectiveness Index and WARC Effective 100 rankings. Finally, just last month, as reported in the 2022 Media Agency New Business Barometer – an analysis of the global media agency marketplace published by independent research company COMvergence – OMD topped the global agency network net new business rankings at number 1.
“The key characteristic of OMD has been our ability to continuously evolve to lead our clients forward, which has propelled us to where we are today; leading the industry as our clients’ most trusted transformation partner,” said OMD Worldwide CEO George Manas. “Our success is enabled by truly differentiated capabilities in digital, data and technology, and as we look towards the next 25 years, we will continue to innovate, and support our clients in pivotal moments of transformation,” he added.
“At OMD, we have a brand that is clearly recognised as number one in the world, and it gives me great pride to honour our legacy as the region that gave birth to OMD as we know it to be today,” said OMD APAC CEO Charlotte Lee. “As we celebrate our brand, our history and our people, we remain steadfast in our commitment to maintaining a passion for our clients’ business, and partnering with them to deliver business transformation and growth in the years to come,” she added.
“This silver jubilee is such a momentous occasion for us. In a quarter of a century, we've gone from our determined beginnings to being the world’s largest media network today and what a journey it's been! Our scaled ambitions right from the very start have seen us aspire to be the foremost authority in the media business, and it is without a doubt that our journey of success over the years comes from our obsession for our two greatest assets - our employees and our clients,” said OMD India CEO Anisha Iyer. Speaking of the future of OMD, she added, “By focusing on innovation, prioritizing digital leadership, and harnessing the many possibilities of Omni and OMD Design, I am confident that we will continue to make transformative changes alongside our clients and remain a global powerhouse of innovation.”
