WPP Shops Poised to Lose Some SAP Business Following Pitch with Omnicom

UPDATE: SAP has officially moved its advertising and marketing business to Omnicom, the marketer said in a statement July 22. The holding company created a dedicated team consisting of resources from BBDO, PHD, Critical Mass, FleishmanHillard, Siegel+Gale, GMR, Rapp and Eg+ Worldwide. "Omnicom's agencies delivered us a compelling, end-to-end vision for the next generation of the SAP brand," SAP CEO Bill McDermott said in the statement. ~~~ WPP shops are poised to lose some SAP business following a review pitting the holding company against rival Omnicom, according to people familiar with the matter. The German software giant has worked with WPP's Ogilvy and Mindshare on creative and media services. The company is now finalizing discussions with Omnicom creative shop BBDO and Omnicom Media Group's PHD, according to people familiar with the matter. "Unfortunately, we're not able to comment at this time," an SAP spokesman said in an e-mail. Agencies either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The developments come only months after the company talked to the Holmes Report about streamlining its agencies within WPP to create marketing, branding and public relations "synergies." WPP's Burson-Marsteller currently supports SAP's PR. It's unclear whether this latest agency move will affect the PR relationship, but it could expand beyond just creative and media to possibly include disciplines such as digital and events, according to people familiar with the matter. The impending shift also comes on the heels of the recent departure of Michael Brenner, SAP's VP-marketing and content strategy. He left the company to join content-marketing startup NewsCred as head of strategy. Julie Roehm, who went quiet on the marketing front after a controversial stint at Walmart many years ago, resurfaced at SAP two years ago and currently serves as senior VP of marketing, reporting into CMO Jonathan Becher. The company spent $17 million on measured media in the U.S. last year. That's down about $10 million from 2012.

WPP Shops Poised to Lose Some SAP Business Following Pitch with Omnicom

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