School Reports 2012: Mindshare

By Staff, campaignlive.co.uk, Monday, 02 April 2012 12:00AM

A couple of years ago, Mindshare began ditching its reputation as a safe haven for unadventurous multinational accounts. Mark Creighton, who joined in October 2010 as the chief operating officer, arrived with the agency on something of a roll, with new business and awards flowing in. Creighton's faith in integration was, we were told, likely to take the agency to another level - and, indeed, it bore fruit last year in a new planning product called Open Source Planning.

Recent Lynx work

Score: 6

Agency factfile: Mindshare
Type of agency	Media planning and buying
Company ownership	WPP
Key personnel	Jed Glanvill chief executive
	Mark Creighton chief operating officer
	Ita Murphy managing director
	Paul Rowlinson head of exchange
	David Walsh head of business planning
Nielsen billings 2011	£720m
Nielsen billings 2010	£677m
Declared income	£704m (2010)
Total accounts at year end	68
Accounts won	13 (biggest: Alberto Culver)
Accounts lost	3 (biggest: Tourism Ireland)
TV	41%
Press	20%
Outdoor	7%
Radio	4%
Search	7%
Cinema	1%
Digital, display and social	16%
Sponsorship	4%
Number of staff	370 (+1%)

So there was hope that the agency's renaissance would continue apace - as reflected in its move into chic new offices in the Central Saint Giles complex. The start of 2012, which saw Nick Emery take the role of worldwide chief, could accelerate this new direction.

However at the end of the year, Mindshare's biggest client Unilever - for which Mindshare has created an augmented reality campaign for Lynx - decided to put its media account up for pitch. And UK new business last year was patchy.

The agency's biggest win - Alberto Culver - came as a result of Unilever's acquisition of the company.

So while the agency didn't have a terrible year, it seems to have lost a spark of energy that was kindled in 2010. The Uk shop needs to work hard to break the perception that it is just an unspecial cog in a global corporate machine.

Score last year: 7

How Mindshare rates itself: 7

"Mindshare had a year to be proud of in 2011. Strong client retention, £45 million of new billings, two Lions at Cannes, an IPA Effectiveness Award and fantastic new talent all stand testament to a great 12 months. Our new award-winning offices allowed us to develop a new way of working with partners across the industry, which we call Open Source Planning. OSP was brought to life in spectacular fashion at Huddle, our industry-first technology event."