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For most marketers and advertisers, 2023 was a strangely challenging year. Advertising spend continued to decelerate, and even decline, in some depressed categories like linear TV. Spooked, and fearful of marketers tightening their purse strings yet again, a lot of agencies resorted to layoffs. Meanwhile, several accounts went into review.
It’s been a tragic year for WPP’s GroupM in the U.S., characterized by large losses like Kimberly-Clark, General Mills, Uber and Shell, despite the group’s success winning business abroad. It was also another tough year for Horizon Media, which lost Geico in 2023 after losing its Burger King account worth $229 million in 2022.
It wasn’t bad for all agencies. Several rose above their competitors this year as reviews wrapped and accounts worth hundreds of millions of dollars changed hands. Holding company results are a mixed bag, and Publicis Groupe is now leading in revenue growth on the year relative to its competitors. Several large accounts—T-Mobile and Amazon—are still in the midst of their agency reviews. Those outcomes have potential to tip the scales in another agency’s favor in the new year.
Agencies’ technological prowess, plus their data and integration abilities, decided many outcomes.
This is because generative artificial intelligence captivated the professional world this year, and marketers wondered how it could make their strategies better, faster or cheaper to implement. Instead of regarding AI as a threat to their business models, most agencies leaned into advisory roles and positioned themselves as technology experts equipped to advise clients on these widespread changes. This is no surprise, given that clients expect agencies to have a handle on everything from data privacy and government regulation to pop-culture influencers and TikTok trends.
To end the year’s new business coverage, we compiled the 10 most interesting account wins of 2023:
Verizon
Previous agency: IPG’s McCann
New agency: Ogilvy
Size of account: In 2022, Verizon spent $3.6 billion on marketing, according to public financial documents.
Why it’s significant: Former Verizon chief marketing officer Diego Scotti hired McCann in 2015, but roster dynamics changed after Scotti left the company earlier this year. Ogilvy previously worked with Verizon on the Verizon Business account, impressing leaders enough that they awarded it the consumer account without ever initiating a formal review. In a staff memo obtained by Adweek, McCann global CEO Daryl Lee wrote, “Over the past year, it has become a client of creative jump balls, making it extremely hard for McCann to do what we do best, which is to create enduring brand platforms that support everything a brand says and does consistently.”
