Exclusive: Amazon's Multi-Billion Dollar Media Account Goes to OMG and WPP

ADWEEK has exclusively learned that Omnicom Media Group and WPP have won Amazon's media review. "After a comprehensive advertising agency review for our consumer business, we’ve chosen to partner with OMG and WPP," Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said in a statement. The accounts will be split by geography, with OMG handling the work in the Americas and WPP handling EMEA and APAC. Amazon calls the decision a strategic move to benefit from the best of what both agencies have to offer. "This decision was made after a careful and extensive review process," Callahan told ADWEEK. "We investigated each agency’s marketplace expertise, media planning experience at all levels, media pricing, measurement abilities, and account management in all geographic regions." According to Amazon, the account review process took more than six months from end to end, including an objective third-party review by MediaSense to validate its findings. The company previously said it was conducting a review as a "regular course of business." IPG Mediabrands previously won Amazon's account in 2013, and it successfully defended it in 2017. Last December, IPG Mediabrands became the first media holding company to partner with Amazon Ads to support its newly launched Prime Video ad tier. According to Amazon, the decision to move on to new agencies was not a reflection of past work but about choosing what's best for the company moving forward. "We appreciate the discussions with of all the world-class agencies we met during our search," Callahan said. "We particularly want to thank IPG, who has been a fantastic partner over the last 10+ years, and we’re grateful for all their work and continued partnership for the other significant areas of our advertising business, including AWS, Amazon Ads, and Amazon Business.” IPG will remain Amazon's global media partner for Amazon Web Services, Amazon Business, and Amazon Ads. The Amazon account is one of the media buying world's most coveted prizes. According to COMvergence, Amazon's global paid media spend amounted to about $4.8B in 2023 (excluding Audible). Ahead of the review, Initiative/Rufus was handling all brand-driven advertising (including programmatic, IO display, and online video) for a total billing of $2.5B. Meanwhile, search, social, and all performance-related advertising is handled by Amazon internally ($2B+), COMvergence added. The media account announcement comes shortly after Amazon officially closed its first TV upfront talks, where the company secured deals with all major holding companies and saw growth from automotive, financial services, CPG, entertainment, and hospitality advertisers, according to a spokesperson. Though there were reports that the media review affected upfront negotiations, potentially shifting budgets of the holding companies vying for Amazon's business, Amazon said the account review and upfront negotiations were "unrelated." "The timing for our review was driven only by our contract," Callahan said. Speaking with ADWEEK, several media buyers said Amazon took a bigger share of budgets in the first year of the upfronts than streaming competitors like Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery-owned Max did during their respective first years. Big win for OMG and WPP Omnicom Media Group (OMG), an Omnicom subsidiary that oversees the holding company’s media agencies OMD, PHD, and Hearts & Science, utilizes an “agency-as-a-platform” model, which it states is a multifaceted and flexible organization equipped to address its clients’ most complex issues using the technology and tools available across its agencies. Omnicom recently created another subsidiary of agencies, the Omnicom Advertising Group (OAG), which consists of creative networks BBDO, DDB, and TBWA, as well as Goodby Silverstein & Partners, GSD&M, Merkley & Partners, and Zimmerman. WPP’s media shop, GroupM, recently teamed up with measurement company Incremental (formerly Tradeswell) to help zero in on the impact of retail media buys. The pairing gives GroupM clients access to AI-driven planning tools, forecasting, measurement, and analytics for retail media. It’s part of GroupM’s Open Media Studio, so client teams can manage retail media alongside all other digital media. Last Year, IPG's Mediabrands won the Geico media review worth $1.4 billion. Amazon ads business continues to boom In addition to putting its ad buying under review, Amazon continues to be a force in the ads business, with its Prime Video ad tier influencing pricing in the TV upfront this year and properties such as Thursday Night Football seeing 90% sellout, according to buyers. In the first quarter, the company announced that its ads business grew to $11.8 billion, representing 8% of its total revenue. In addition, Amazon reported net sales of $143.3 billion during the first quarter of 2024, up 13% compared to the same three-month period last year. The company is outpacing Google year over year, increasing its ads segment by 24%, but falling behind Meta.