Publicis Tops 2003 New Business League

December saw a marked increase in activity at leading agencies as the account pipeline remained strong. There were a number of significant wins for Publicis which clinched the Lehman Brothers 2003 New Business Title.

Following a strong November, there was a 40% year on year increase in account moves last month. Account consolidation is a major feature and the pipeline indicates an improvement in the next few months, Lehman emphasised in a report.

“We believe the ongoing trend remains upwards as companies reassess their marketing plans as the advertising outlook improves, underpinning our stance on the sub-sector,” the report said.

Publicis reported $866 million in net new business billings and finished top of the end of year New Business Scorecard, ahead of Omnicom and Grey Worldwide. Havas recovered from a mid-year slump and came in fourth with net wins of more than $200 million.

WPP suffered no new Cordiant losses in December but was hit by a couple of high-profile losses. It did however have a number of less heralded wins and secured net new billings of $83 million last year. Lehman estimates that the overall advertising agency sector ended 2003 with a net of more than $3 billion in new advertising billings.

Media Agencies Mindshare was the most successful media buying agency in 2003 with $174 million in net new business. Omnicom’s OMD finished second with $113 million in net wins, just ahead of ZenithOptimedia.

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