The Walt Disney Co. has concluded its global estimated $2.2 billion media review with Publicis Media and Omnicom Media Group emerging as the big winners, according to several people close to the matter.
Those people told Ad Age that Omnicom retained the planning and buying duties in the U.S. for Disney Studios—which includes Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation, as well as now the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. It also won that business in Canada. Omnicom first won the U.S. media business of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Searchlight Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment in May, and U.S. buying and planning duties for Disney Studios in 2013 without a review. Omnicom was additionally awarded media duties for ABC, Disney Channel, Disney Freeform, National Geographic and FX Productions and Networks in the U.S. and Canada, according to the people.
Omnicom will service the account through a bespoke unit called OMG23, named after Disney's fan club, D23—23 representing 1923, the year Walt Disney Co. was founded.
According to an internal memo from Publicis Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun obtained by Ad Age, Publicis Media won the entire global buying and planning business including in North America for Disney theme parks and Disney+, the company's forthcoming streaming service. Publicis also won all of the company's media business in the EMEA, APAC and Latin America regions, the memo read.
Sadoun said in the memo that Publicis will create a bespoke unit for Disney called Publicis Imagine, "built in large parts through seamlessly combining Zenith’s media expertise, and the firepower of Epsilon’s unmatched data offering." He also revealed the other agencies that competed in the four-month process were Dentsu, Havas and Horizon, which walked away from the review with nothing.
"This was the most important pitch of the year," Sadoun said in the memo. "Disney were looking for an innovative, future-proof agency model to support the vision and demands of their business."