OMD Denmark named Media Agency of the Year by MyImage
OMD EMEA
19 1 月 2021

This article was originally published by Medium and has been translated into English.

 

The results from this year’s MyImage have been announced, and for the second year in a row, the Danish advertisers have rated OMD as having the best image among the media agencies in the market.

MyImage is performed by MyResearch and is behind Denmark’s largest marketing decision-making surveys. This year, 936 marketing executives participated in the survey. The survey has been conducted in various forms since 1997. First it was Børsens Nyhedsmagasin – and later Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin – that named the best media agency of the year, a title that OMD has won from the first year and every year until 2011. In the last 13 years, the survey – in its current and more thorough and comprehensive format – has been made by MyResearch.

Over the years, OMD has, 18 times out of 24, been named the media agency with the strongest image in the industry. In the period when MyResearch has been responsible for the study, it has won 6 second places, and 7 first places – most recently in 2021 and 2020.

Results of the OMD survey in MyImage, has the overall image score ‘Brand Power’ which is based on two overall parameters: ‘Brand Strength’ which is based on knowledge of the agency, the desire to invite the agency to pitch, and momentum – which is the desire to invite to pitch corrected for the agency’s customer share. ‘Brand Position’ which is based on 9 image dimensions among the advertisers who know a little about the agency (i.e. those who only know the agency’s name are not included). In this year’s survey, OMD is number 1 on ‘Brand Power’, number 2 on ‘Brand Strength’, and number 3 on ‘Brand Position’. If you look more closely at the positioning criteria in ‘Brand Position’, OMD ranks number 1 on the dimension ‘Strategically strong’, and on the dimension ‘Are good at negotiating prices / terms’. OMD is also in the top 3 on ‘Good at creating results’, ‘Good understanding of customers’ business’, ‘Has good digital skills’, and ‘Good at analysing and using data’.

Under the criterion ‘Momentum’ – which is the desire to invite to pitch corrected for the agency’s customer share – OMD is also the agency that has the best momentum of all. Ie. OMD is the media agency that advertisers would rather invite to pitch. We spoke to Mogens Østergaard from MyResearch, who is behind ‘MyImage’, about this year’s analysis, and asked him to give his perspective on a number of issues related to this.

 

Interview:

 

Question: Can you tell us a little about the method and validity of the analysis? There is a record number of respondents this year.

Answer: This time, 936 marketing executives conducted the survey. That is a growth of 8.5 percent compared to the 2020 poll, in which 863 participated. Thus, the 2021 survey is the largest ever in the 13 years it has been conducted. This also makes this Denmark’s largest analysis among marketing managers. We generally experience a very high response rate among those who participate – a lot higher than you normally see in online surveys. The same applies to the total population (the total number of marketing managers in Denmark) – with 936 completed responses, the survey is to that extent representative.

We also hear from the agencies and advertisers who work in a structured way with the analysis, and thus want to use the answers for continuous improvements, that the analysis has a high level of validity and reliability. The developments and the results are representative of the reality that they themselves investigate. In other words, the data set is interconnected.

Question: If you were to nuance the relationship between fire strength and fire position, what are the most important elements to master in terms of having the best image?

Answer: This is a good question that cannot be answered unequivocally, as it will depend on the specific situation of each agency. For agencies that are well placed on ‘Brand Position’ but are low on ‘Brand Strength’, it will be a priority to work on strengthening the qualified knowledge. For an agency like OMD, which is very high on ‘Brand Strength’, the priority should be to work with its ‘Brand Position’. Here it will be a success criterion to select 2-3 image parameters and excel at them. Of course, like some of the criteria / parameters that advertisers place a high value on in the choice of media agency. In general, it can be said that there is a significant potential for differentiation among the media agencies, as the market within this type of agency appears somewhat undifferentiated.

Question: Can you say a little about the importance of the selection criteria in relation to the choice of media agency? Have there been decisive developments within these – eg in relation to transparency or something else?

Answer: Developments have been relatively stable over recent years. These are still the same selection criteria that are most important to advertisers. In particular, the criteria ‘Are good at creating results’ and ‘Have a good understanding of my business’ are important. But precisely in relation to the media agencies, we have seen that the criterion ‘Are impartial and transparent’ has become increasingly important. However, it is still not among the most important optional criteria.

Question: Can you elaborate on the advantages of a media agency by having the best image in the market?

Answer: The benefits are significant. At MyResearch, we call the strongest agency brands “Power Brand” agencies. In general, we see that the ‘Power Brand’ agencies are significantly above average in terms of growth in gross profit, which is on average 3 times greater than their competitors. The ‘Power Brand’ agencies also have better momentum, which means that their probability of being invited to pitch by the advertisers is significantly higher than their competitors. We can also see that a strong image increases the ability to attract and retain employees (cf. the employee analysis).

In MyResearch, we have carried out the project ‘Winning agencies’ DNA’ together with former Dentsu Aegis Network’s top manager, Henrik Jensen, who today is behind the consulting company Brandse & Co. In it, we introduced the triple bottom line that illustrates that financial performance is a consequence of employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. In the model, knowledge and image constitute the lubricant that makes the other three gears run faster. So, a ‘Power Brand’ has a significant advantage as the good knowledge and image acts as a catalyst on the triple bottom line.

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