Creative agency media billings don’t matter so much these days we’re constantly told but actually….they do. A lot of clients spending decent sums in mainstream media is a pretty sure sign of an agency doing its job.
In what was clearly a difficult 12 months for many VCCP tops the Campaign/Nielsen billings table on a pretty impressive £490m, up 8% on 2024. Publicis Groupe’s Leo (formerly Leo Burnett) and Saatchi and Saatchi (2024 winner) are second and third. Private equity-owned VCCP was MAA’s Agency of the year in December, toppling serial winner Mother (7th in the C/N table, pretty good all the same for such an avowedly creative outfit.)
In fact the UK is jolly lucky to have two such good agencies when creative standards around the world are under pressure from the digital tidal wave and advertisers reducing fees in the hope that AI will do the heavy lifting for them. Ownership is surely key: P/E doesn’t have that many friends but its ownership has worked for VCCP, once they got rid of WPP. Had VCCP stayed in the WPP fold it would probably have been merged by with a digital agency in Minneapolis by now. Campaign reders will note the absence from the table of the likes of JWT and Y&R.
Mother is truly independent and consistently the most creative performer among UK and, even, world agencies. It seems to win our Ad of the Week about every two weeks. Its latest for KFC will be a contender tomorrow.
VCCP can turn it on too. At a time when the UK airwaves are awash with funeral ads that have you heaving the remote at the screen, here it is for Co-op Funeralcare: sensitive, understated, quietly humorous. The work of a proper agency.
