PHD Awarded Adweek's 'Global Agency of the Year 2012'

NEW YORK and LONDON, Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PHD, part of Omnicom Media Group, announced today they were named Global Agency of the Year 2012 by industry title Adweek.

The accolade follows a significant period of growth for PHD, which has resulted in the sixth consecutive year of significant billings growth thanks to a number of high profile global account wins including Sony, Bentley, Hyatt (digital), ANZ and the substantial global communications planning for Unilever.  

Mike Cooper, Worldwide CEO of PHD said, "Being named Adweek's Global Media Agency of the Year is great recognition of the whole network's achievements in 2012. We have an outstandingly talented team of people at PHD around the world and it's thanks to everyone across the agency that we have attracted great clients, produced great work and continued to punch above our weight in awards and thought leadership. We're grateful to all our clients and partners and would like to thank them for their support over the last twelve months."

Talent attraction and retention remained a focus for PHD. In the US, the agency strengthened its management team with the appointment of Monica Karo, who came on board as CEO, having previously been Omnicom Media Group (OMG) president of integrated accounts. Steve Williams was also announced as the president of PHD New York, moving from his role in the UK where he was CEO of OMD. Their appointments coincided with the promotion of PHD's Craig Atkinson, who was named chief operating officer in addition to his role as chief digital officer of PHD U.S.

Other significant hires included Malcolm Devoy, appointed International strategy director when he joined from Arena Media and Kel Hook, who joined as head of strategy and communications planning at PHD China, having been managing director of Wieden+Kennedy for the past five years.

PHD also built on its heritage in communications planning and strategy with the unveiling and road-testing of its new proprietary planning system 'Source', which is the result of two years of development. The system officially launched network wide in January this year, harnesses gamification to encourage participation and collaboration across the network and allows for integrated global planning.

The agency won a significant number of awards in 2012 for its work, including four Cannes Lions, and the end of the year was marked by more 'Media Agency of the Year' accolades than any other network, with 19 being awarded in various markets in all regions. 

PHD also continued to invest in thought leadership, launching its fourth book 'Overthrow: Ten Ways to Tell a Challenger Story', co-written with Adam Morgan of eatbigfish, and an app of the same name, allowing marketers to find out what challenger type they are.

The network also expanded with office launches in Melbourne, Switzerland, Indonesia and a strategic partnership in South Africa. 

The Adweek article can be found at http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/agency-year-phd-146653

About PHD (www.phdww.com)
Founded in London in 1990 as the first planning-led media agency, PHD is a proven innovator in communications planning and buying across broadcast, print, digital, mobile, social and emerging media. PHD is a global network with over 2,500 employees in more than 60 countries and is built on a culture of thought leadership, creativity and innovation.   At the end of 2012, PHD was awarded 20 'Agency of the Year' accolades including Adweek's 'Global Media Agency of the Year' and continues to deliver on its philosophy of "Finding a Better Way" for its clients, which include Sony, Porsche, Bentley, ANZ, GSK, SC Johnson, Hyatt and Unilever.

The PHD network is part of the Omnicom Media Group (www.omnicommediagroup.com), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC)

About Omnicom Media Group (www.omnicommediagroup.com)
Omnicom Media Group is the media services division of Omnicom Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMC). Omnicom is a leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.  Omnicom Media Group includes the full service media networks PHD and OMD as well as a number of specialty media communications companies. By being part of OMG, these entities are able to fully leverage the media resources and buying scale of Omnicom on behalf of its clients.

SOURCE Omnicom Media Group