GSK consolidates $1.3bn media account with Omnicom, WPP

GlaxoSmithKline, the pharma and consumer-health giant, has consolidated the bulk of its global media buying and planning account with WPP media agency network GroupM, while keeping Omnicom’s PHD as its lead media agency for the United States, according to Adage report.

PHD will also add a global comms planning assignment, as well as the media business in Canada to its remit, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Adage, while agency representatives either declined to comment or couldn’t be immediately reached. But the decision, which comes after a lengthy review, means that the international media duties that GSK awarded to Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest Group in 2010 will move back to GroupM, the report said

It hasn’t been that long since GSK examined its global media agency relationships. The last time it did so, in 2010, the outcome was not as favorable to WPP. WPP-owned Mediacom – one of four GroupM agencies and, at the time, the incumbent on the GSK business in a number of top markets – lost business.The shop retained its $90 million UK media planning and buying account, but months later GSK moved its massive US business to Omnicom’s PHD. And after a separate review in Europe, the company moved business in a handful of European markets to SMG.

Now, the marketer is cutting Publicis Groupe and Carat, which handled some business in Asia, out and consolidating the bulk of its media business with the two holding companies. It’s understood that the marketer will retain Dentsu for buying in Japan.

The move to review the global business this year came five months after Sameer Singh joined GSK as vice president and head of global media with a remit to develop a new approach to media for the global consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical giant. Singh joined from Procter & Gamble, where he was vice president of media in Asia and China.

A media agency consolidation will likely create efficiencies and savings for a marketer that has reported declining advertising spending since 2010. The company spent $1.3 billion in 2012, $1.46 billion in 2011 and $1.5 billion in 2010. In 2012, it spent $726 million on total advertising in the US, according to the Ad Age DataCenter.

The company spent $435.4 million on domestic measured media in 2012, according to Kantar Media.