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A-List & Creativity Awards 2025

VML is a Standout on Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List

By Lindsay Rittenhouse. Published on March 10, 2025.

From left: Jon Cook, VML global CEO, and Mel Edwards, VML global president. Credit: VML

VML emerged on the ad scene in 2024 as the newly minted agency formed via the WPP merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson. All signs seem to point to success thus far.

The agency now houses more than 26,000 employees across 150 offices worldwide and reeled in an estimated $3.4 billion in first-year global revenue with nearly 40% of revenue attributed to North America.

Among VML’s 2024 wins are: U.S. creative and media for Krispy Kreme; a project for AstraZeneca (U.S. Health); Johnson & Johnson (U.S. Health); Perrigo as its global strategic, creative and activation partner; duties including organic social, loyalty and CRM for Pizza Hut (U.S.); CRM and strategy management for Wendy’s (U.S.); Samsung’s mobile B2B solution creative and content (U.S.); Spirit Airlines’ brand refresh (U.S.); AIG’s U.S. communications AOR; and Dymatize’s U.S. social AOR.

The agency said its one notable loss in 2024 was a portion of Pfizer’s business. (Publicis has handled the majority of the pharmaceutical giant’s media and creative business since 2024.)

VML said its strength in the market is in its integration of services: brand experience, customer experience, commerce and enterprise solutions (digital transformation).

One of its biggest growth areas last year was VML Health, which delivered a 10% revenue increase in 2024 and notched wins including the aforementioned AstraZeneca and Tremfya, per the agency.

The agency also used WPP’s AI brand hub Open to drive ROI for clients. VML cited its use of the platform to create AI-powered personalized color recommendations for Sherwin-Williams, interactive shoppable moments for Oreo and personalized video invitations for Virgin Voyages.

Notable campaigns last year included Hellmann’s “Mayo Cat” Super Bowl spot—which featured a cat who rises to stardom after Kate McKinnon discovered she could talk. VML said the cat wasn’t just a star in the 2024 commercial but gained some real vitality with her image appearing on the Las Vegas Sphere and a takeover of Hellmann’s social channels ahead of the Big Game. Results included 30.5 billion impressions across 4,000 media placements and eight weeks of sales growth.

For Oreo last year, VML Commerce New York capitalized on March Madness without a traditional ad buy, transforming referee calls into interactive, shoppable moments. The Mondelēz-owned brand decided to forgo spending millions on high-profile partnerships, endorsements and in-game ads by playing on the similarity between referees’ black-and-white jerseys and Oreos.

VML paired officiating call signals with cookie match-ups and allowed viewers to scan referees in real time to unlock special sales offers. The campaign generated more than 100,000 live scans, with a 61% redemption rate, and a 9.8% increase in direct sales compared to the prior year.

See all of Ad Age's 2025 Agency A-List winners here.