OMD’s 10-year transformation: From a ‘two out of 10’, to media agency of the decade
This week, Omnicom’s OMD was crowned Mumbrella’s media agency of the decade. Brittney Rigby speaks to Omnicom Media Group’s CEO, Peter Horgan, and OMD’s Aimee Buchanan about the decade’s best (and worst) moments, including a near-death reality check from its biggest client, an overhaul of its parental leave policy, and the broken elevator which saw a group of the industry’s biggest names trapped for 50 minutes.
Ask Peter Horgan to take you back to the OMD of 2010 and he’ll say it was comfortable. Dangerously comfortable.
Four years earlier, James Greet – credited with rejuvenating the agency – had left as CEO. Greet’s successor, Mark Coad, was about to depart to lead Clemenger Harvie Edge in Melbourne (he’d return to the Omnicom Media Group family in 2012, as CEO of PHD). And Horgan was ready to replace Coad.
He was, however, not ready for the agency to find itself face-to-face with death just a couple of years later, in the form of Mark Buckman.
Good to see no mention of the people other than Aimee and Peter who made the agency – mark Jarrett, Margie Reid, Steve Sinha, Stu Bailey, Dan sinfield. I guess sums up why they’re no longer there.
So overworking your staff and underpaying them leads to agency of the decade? All other agencies must be pretty terrible. All it takes is a couple of big clients for them to throw people and culture out the window
Hi there,
The article does mention past OMD/ OMG leaders/ personnel including Leigh Terry, Mark Coad and James Greet.
You are correct that the names you’ve listed missed out a mention in this instance. This was far more likely do to word-count and time restrictions than any disrespect to Mark, Margie, Steve, Stu and Dan.
Lots of people – including those lower down the hierarchy, both past and present – have contributed to OMD’s win, and we apologise for not being able to acknowledge them all.
Vivienne – Mumbrella
The best years of my life. Tried leaving, but just kept coming back.
on ya [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] works then.
Word count cannot be an excuse for not talking about the other leaders who have led OMD to success – especially when the story about the lift is so long.
I appreciate the call-out from Anonymous but I think the strength of OMD was (and I am sure still is) keeping together a very deep pool of highly talented people as opposed to having to rely on one or two stars to land all the difficult missions. Based on my tenure this decade, I am happy to slap myself on the back today for a 4/10 which at least beats the minimum 2/10 benchmark. The article also omits that this is OMD’s 2nd consecutive Agency Of The Decade gong. So hopefully Horgs keeps his health (too late for his hair) so he can lift the hat-trick in 2029, which would be pretty remarkable. Big congratulations to everyone still fighting the good fight for the Big O in Australia.
I’d suggest many of OMD’s best wins came from their trading product. Shame to see this ignored or conveniently tucked away as “lower on the hierachy” to allow for the more indulgent time and word count spent on a broken lift.
At least in Melbourne, Margie Reid dominated the market once Steve Sinha left, and it’s outrageous that she isn’t mentioned in this article. Love Horgs and the other boys mentioned, but it should be put in writing how much Reid did for the company after a real culture divide in that office before she took over.
“She was impressed by the culture, but also observed that OMD’s focus on people to the detriment of product had made it “soft”.”
– Everything you need to know about Aimee
Steve [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] and your score [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
Working with a lot of agencies across Australia this doesn’t surprise me at all. And echoing Steve’s comments the bench strength is fantastic at OMD- which to be fair I’ve heard said by both Aimee and Peter many times.
If you think OMD under pay their staff than you aren’t aware of industry benchmarks. They actually pay above market rate for a lot of roles, front entry level to C Suite. By far the most competitive of the holding groups, maybe bar Dentsu, but we all know of their struggles.
[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
In no way did I mean to dismiss Melissa or point to her being “low” in the hierarchy. I was simply also drawing attention to the many hundreds of people who have worked / continue to work at OMD (and indeed all agencies) at ALL levels, who contribute to its success.
Us failing to mention people here is by no means a reflection of how OMD, or how we, feel about them.
We have told one part of the story. We know that. OMD knows that.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the piece, but I’m happy for people to get shout outs in the comment thread for their great work, and to hear more about who/ what has contributed to OMD over the past decade.
Vivienne – Mumbrella
The culture was at an all time low with [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] making constant sexist, racist, and bullying comments to any staff member [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] liked [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] . I would like to think Margie Reid has played a huge part in repairing OMD and moving it forward to appropriate times. Well done OMD. x
Hi Anonymous I’m not sure OMD can thank everyone who was involved over the time. Maybe, just maybe we should celebrate a great agency getting recognition and the hard work of the hundreds of people who have worked there (past and present).
Congrats OMD see you in the local for a beer to celebrate soon!
‘What to expect when you’re expecting at OMD’ sounds fantastic… maybe it was people like me and experiences similar to mine (whilst at OMD) that created the need for such a policy. It was definitely not sunshine and rainbows / flexible and supportive during my two pregnancies. Not bitter; genuinely happy that they have woken up to what is required when retaining talent (who also happen to be parents).
Congratulations OMD – a brilliant and well deserved accolade.
As an industry collective it’s fantastic that we are giving due respect and recognition to the most consistent, culturally vibrant (and diverse) agency in the country.
I’m sure Dan et al are as proud of this achievement as those still in the business.
It would be great to understand how this is awarded.
Is it award winning work?
Staff churn?
Those people and culture awards?
What exactly?
Well done OMD. No doubt another [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] off the back of this.
What industry collective is recognising this? Who was on the panel? How is it being judged? Maybe I’m being dumb but none of this is clear.
Hi ‘Are we?’,
Apologies that this was not clear.
This was not an award which agencies paid to enter. It was an editorial decision by the Mumbrella team to mark the end of the decade. We decided on OMD after consultation with some senior industry executives. As it’s an editorial feature and recognition from us, rather than an award, we awarded it ourselves, not via a formal jury.
I have added a note to the article to make this more explicit.
If you believe another agency was deserving of such recognition, please feel free to give them a shout out here – we are aware there are many other contenders.
Thanks,
Vivienne
So many questions about transparency and ownership yet you don’t use your own name when commenting.
Thanks for amending article as it really wasn’t clear to me.
I would love to get an understanding of which agencies have won the most awards for their work (not people and culture awards) over the last ten years.
What is it with Mumbrella constantly singing Omnicom and OMD’s praises? They can literally do no wrong. Ever. It started back in the Greet days, and continues to this day. Don’t get me wrong, they are a good business, with good leadership, bench strength, and clearly have a strong PR strategy, but it’s disproportionate coverage by a massive margin. Doesn’t happen in the other trade rags and I’m curious as to why…
With all due respect Vivienne Kelly, while it does take lots of people “even those lower down the hierarchy” as you’ve condescendingly mentioned, to contribute to OMD’s win, I think it’s ridiculous to credit the two senior staff currently employed for a 10 year win, when obviously Mark, Margie, Mel, Steve, Stu, Dan and Ben, are the major contributors to this success. For Aimee and Peter to take this win as their own is simply laughable.
Hi “Editorial bias”,
I’m curious what you think we wrote about Omnicom during “the Greet days” given that I didn’t start Mumbrella until two years after he’d left.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I’d have to agree. Sydney traded off Melbourne’s success and culture for years.
If I was Margie Reid I would be thinking ‘that’s why I left’. Imagine not using your time in the interview to call our others and recognise many of them.
It’s no secrete that all the culture and business results were from Melbourne – specifically during Margie’s time at the top.
Having worked for her – I felt compelled to write when I read this and listened to the podcast. What’s wrong with these people why can’t they recognise other talent who made the real contribution?
Worked there for 3 years – nearly killed me – but learnt a lot about human dynamics, agency world and why OMD are consistently striving despite all the problems that beset them internally and externally.
Like any pirate ship – it depends on what you do to keep the thing going – and many deck scrubbers will tell you the captain doesn’t know which way north is – but consistent treasure found can’t be argued with.
Guess it depends on hopw much rum you’re willing to drink in the end….
Congrats to OMD on the win / recognition. It really was a great place to work in the 4 and a half years I waa there, across both the rocky times and the successes and changes.
it’s not a win, it’s just an opinion, and don’t you ever proof read your comments?
It’s an industry joke that OMD have Mumbrella in their pocket.
Tim’s trying to achieve his sale earn out and OMD line Mumbrella’s pockets more than any.
Stand by for Burrows sarcastic reply but regardless everyone knows what’s going on here.
Boring.
Considering the size of the agency and the budgets of the clients they massively under deliver on award wining work. There are lots of awards from the more subjective stuff like culture, people, women in leadership – but when it comes to a crisp work…………..
That might be how life works in your part of the world, TBP, but please don’t assume it of others.
One of the things about our business model is it’s pretty transparent. You can see who advertises and sponsors our events and website. You wont find many messages from OMD.
If you were to look at top spending clients of 2019, they wouldn’t be in the top 50.
Yes, I think they’re a good agency who’ve taken a lead on treating their clients honestly. So do the independent observers we asked. I wonder why you don’t like them being recognised?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
would you mind naming the “senior industry executives” who agreed with your decision?
Hi ‘Bob’,
We consulted people on background for their views, so at this stage we won’t be revealing who we spoke to. What I can tell you is that a lot of people agreed with the view that OMD has been a consistent performer for the past decade.
If you disagree with the decision, then your issue is with us at Mumbrella – not the executives we consulted – as it was ultimately our call.
If you believe another agency has had a fabulous decade, and is deserving of recognition, feel free to let us know.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
And campaign awards aren’t subjective either?
Shame on OMD for only winning people centric awards, rather than one from one of the 80 different bodies that give awards out to whoever will sponsor a table on the night.
So you think the awards for work aren’t important as they’re mostly based on tables you buy at the awards ceremony whereas as people and culture / leadership etc have nothing to do with say a agency sponsoring categories and conferences?
Work awards at least need to have work we’ve all seen, an idea and business results.
As a client I would care about the success of the work not whether the churn of staff figures have been massaged by cutting the data a different way. Yes work results can be massaged too but work should be our focus. It’s what we do.
And nor have you.
Congrats OMD, as a previous client twice now, I was chuffed to see you honoured in this way. I have worked with many of the top media agencies in Sydney and you were the most transparent, insightful and intelligent I have come across. Hope I get to work with you again! Enjoy this despite your industry peers seemingly not being able to be gracious in the face of your success.
I know you are, you said you are, but what am I?