Amazon splits global media between GroupM and OMG after a decade with IPG

Amazon has appointed WPP and Omnicom Media Group to handle its global media account.

Incumbent IPG Mediabrands also pitched for the account alongside the two winning networks.

Valued at an estimated $5 billion globally, according to Comvergence, the Amazon media account is believed to be the biggest pitch the industry has ever encountered.

As first reported by Adweek, OMG will handle Amazon's media account in the Americas and WPP's GroupM will handle media duties across EMEA and APAC.

IPG will remain Amazon's global media partner for Amazon Web Services, Amazon Business, and Amazon Ads.

The process overall took six months to complete and included an objective third-party review by MediaSense.

Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan confirmed the appointment of the two agencies in a statement.

She said: “After a comprehensive advertising agency review for our consumer business, we’ve chosen to partner with OMG and WPP. We appreciate the discussions with of all the world-class agencies we met during our search. 

"We particularly want to thank IPG, who has been a fantastic partner over the last 10-plus years, and we’re grateful for all their work and continued partnership for the other significant areas of our advertising business, including AWS, Amazon Ads and Amazon Business.”

At the time of the launch of the Amazon pitch, Campaign reported that GroupM and OMG both created bespoke teams for the pitch.

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser also told Campaign the process was a routine review of the brand’s third-party vendors.

Initiative won Amazon’s global media account in 2013 and successfully defended it again in 2017, beating Publicis Media. 

Amazon reported an annual spend of $20.6 billion for its advertising and promotions in 2022, up from $16.9 billion in 2021, and more than double its spend in 2020 of $10.9 billion.

GroupM, WPP and IPG declined to comment when approached by Campaign.