HP has moved its $250 million global media account to Publicis, ending a 17-year run with Omnicom. Tenure did not win the review, which is a warning for any supplier coasting on history.
Seventeen years of being the incumbent counted for less than one good pitch. That should worry every agency coasting on tenure.
HP has handed its global media account to Publicis, ending a 17-year run with Omnicom. The account is worth around $250 million. The decision followed a closed pitch between the two networks and was confirmed on 11 June.
Omnicom's PHD had held the business since 2009, when it won HP's global traditional media. In 2017 it added global digital duties. That is a long relationship by any measure, and it still ended. The incumbent advantage, the one every agency leans on, did not save the account.
Why it matters
Most people read account moves as gossip for the trade press. The signal underneath is more useful. A blue-chip advertiser ran a hard review, looked at one of the longest agency relationships in the business and still switched. Tenure did not win. Whatever Publicis showed on data, AI and media buying did.
If you are a business owner, the lesson is about your own suppliers. Long relationships are comfortable. Comfort is not the same as performance. The question is not how long an agency has been with you. It is whether they could win your business again today if they had to pitch for it.
The estimated annual value of the HP global media account that just moved from Omnicom to Publicis after 17 years. Source: Adweek
What to do about it
Review your agency on output, not history. Ask what they have delivered in the last 12 months, not what they did when you signed.
Make them re-earn it. A light competitive review every couple of years keeps an incumbent sharp. People who never have to compete stop competing.
Look at what HP chased. The pitches that win now lead with data, measurement and AI fluency. If your agency cannot speak to those, that is a gap.
Separate the relationship from the results. Liking your account team is fine. It is not a reason to keep paying for work that is not moving your numbers.
Know your own numbers first. You cannot judge an agency's performance if you cannot measure your own. The review only works if you know what good looks like.
The biggest advertisers in the world do not let comfort make their decisions. Neither should you.