Nielsen billings 2017: £469m (+22%)
Declared income: n/s
Total accounts at year end: 24
Accounts won: 6 (biggest: Kraft Heinz)
Accounts lost: 3 (biggest: Flybe)
Number of staff: 430 (nominal change)
Key personnel: Jodie Stranger, chief executive, UK group, and president, global network clients EMEA; Nicola Harvey, managing partner; Elliott Millard, managing partner; Isabelle Baas, managing partner, digital, data and tech; Eva Grimmett, managing partner, strategy
Star player: Melpo Gkofa, strategy director
After the tumult of being prised apart from group sibling Mediavest, 2017 was the year in which Starcom rediscovered its rhythm as a standalone brand under the Publicis Media umbrella.
In an eventful 12 months the agency retained and extended its all-important relationship with Procter & Gamble, seeing off a challenge from MediaCom and Omnicom’s Hearts & Science. It secured the £50m international media account for Merck Consumer Healthcare, and won a sizeable chunk of UK business from Kraft Heinz.
Starcom has led from the front with its diversity policies, consistently promoting women to its most senior roles and creating the Working Mums Group to better retain talent. This reputation continues to benefit the agency.
One of the key architects of this progressive approach did leave during 2017. Having guided the agency for five years, and overseen the move to its shared Publicis Media headquarters, Pippa Glucklich’s departure in October for personal reasons was felt throughout the organisation.
Nonetheless, the agency’s leadership remains in a good place. Highly regarded president of global network clients, EMEA, Jodie Stranger took on the UK group chief executive post in the summer and will ensure Starcom continues to adhere to Publicis’ "Power of One" philosophy.
With the appointment of OMD’s Hamid Habib as UK managing director in January 2018, a fresh top team is in place to evolve and redefine Starcom’s "human experience company" positioning for a new era, focused on commerce, data and technology.
SCORE THIS YEAR |
SCORE LAST YEAR |
SELF RATING |
| 6 | 6 | 8 |
Agency's year in a tweet
A renewed focus on human experiences combined with a new model & leadership has led to the big wins from a top team. #WhatAnExperience.
Score key: 9 Outstanding 8 Excellent 7 Good 6 Satisfactory 5 Adequate 4 Below average 3 Poor 2 A year to forget 1 Survival in question
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