Verizon awards Ogilvy consumer account long held by McCann

Verizon is parting ways with McCann as lead agency for its consumer business and awarding the account to WPP’s Ogilvy, the telecommunications giant confirmed in a statement. McCann had held the account since 2015. The account is expected to officially shift to Ogilvy in 2024.

Other agencies won't be affected by the account change, according to multiple people close to the situation. Other IPG agencies on the roster include FCB, R/GA, Golin, MRM and Momentum.

This move marks a significant shift for the consumer cellular brand, whose longtime CMO Diego Scotti announced in May he was leaving. The consumer account is a huge win for Ogilvy, which snagged Verizon’s business-to-business account in December of last year.

Also read: Inside Diego Scotti's exit from Verizon

“Ogilvy has proven to be a highly strategic creative partner,” Kristin McHugh, senior VP marketing & creative, Verizon said in a statement. “Since last year, we’ve been working in close partnership with the Ogilvy team to evolve our creative approach, leveraging powerful insights to illustrate our focus on providing value for our customers. We’re excited to be expanding this relationship further, and building on this success across the enterprise.”

Devika Bulchandani, global CEO of Ogilvy, said in a statement, “It’s an honor to be expanding our relationship with one of America’s most iconic brands. We are invigorated by a shared ambition of using the exponential power of creativity to propel Verizon's brand and business to new heights.”

Ogilvy recently launched two campaigns for Verizon centered around NFL Sunday Ticket and its new myPlan offering.

Non-IPG agencies on Verizon’s roster include independent Madwell, Publicis Groupe's The Community and VM1, among others. Verizon late last year consolidated media under Publicis Groupe following its acquisition of Tracfone.

In an internal memo to McCann obtained by Ad Age, Daryl Lee, global CEO of McCann Worldgroup, wrote, “Last night, we were informed by Verizon that we will not be on their creative roster for 2024. This is bittersweet news as we had some of our best teams on Verizon over the years. To all the people who toiled on Verizon through the years we salute you and thank you for your service. Please know that we will be working hard in the coming months to find homes for our Verizon team on our growing list of clients.”

In 2022, Verizon spent $3.6 billion on advertising, according to its annual regulatory filing. Verizon’s latest quarterly regulatory filing said the company increased ad spending in the first half of 2023 by $124 million compared to the same period a year ago.

“We take enormous pride in the work we have done for Verizon over the past years and wish them well,” said a McCann spokesperson.

Contributing: Lindsay Rittenhouse