Media Direction and OMD alliance

The Media Direction and OMD agencies announced they are to join forces on the Romanian market as of January 1, 2006. The partnership will consist in media buying and will “propel the two companies towards the top position on the media services market in Romania, in terms of budgets and number of accounts.” The new group is estimated to account for 15% of the market. The partnership will not be a merger, OMD and Media Direction representatives told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. “The two agencies will exist just as before, as completely separate entities, with the management, teams and client portfolios they have now,” they added. OMD and Media Direction specified the decision to create this partnership was made locally, and was sanctioned by the regional management. The two agencies are related to the media giant Omnicom, which they are either a part of (i.e. OMD, in which TBWA Bucharest, an Omnicom member, owns 99.5%) or an affiliate (i.e. Media Direction, controlled by Cristian Burci. The BBDO Worldwide network part of the Omnicom group owns 20% in Media Direction). ZF