OMG UK & YouTube have collaborated to develop industry leading AV planning expertise, tech and innovation that enable clients to maximise reach, representation and ultimately create competitive advantage.  In March 2022, a unique gallery style event, The AV Exhibition, brought to life the culmination of their ground-breaking work in AV.

In January 2021 OMG UK was selected as a partner by YouTube, with the clear objective of delivering market leading AV planning expertise, tech and innovation to the industry. YouTube selected the group and its agencies as they “are determined to be at the bleeding edge of AV planning. Their cohort of progressive AV planners apply cutting edge innovation to reach broad and diverse audiences that matter” – Jehan Shah, Senior Industry Head, Google UK.  The group’s expertise in AV were proven with their impressive list of wins at the YouTube Homeshows awards, which included Team of the Year, Practitioner of the Year, Best TV and YouTube campaign and Best Newcomer/Launch.

The partnership brings a range of benefits to clients, including tech and product innovation, progressive AV planning expertise, creative excellence, and ultimately commercial benefits and competitive advantage.

The AV Exhibition was a culmination of a year’s worth of ground-breaking work in AV.  On Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th March, OMG UK agencies (OMD UK, MG OMD, PHD UK and Hearts & Science) and YouTube hosted 250 attendees across 50 advertisers who, through a series of immersive installations in a unique gallery setting, experienced the benefits of ‘Smart AV planning that mirrors the nation’.  The six museum style installations, each designed by a selected artist, bring to life representation, efficiency, incrementality, creativity and context in AV planning and the innovative product capabilities and bespoke tools and approaches uniquely available to OMG UK clients.

One example is OMG Select – launched in 2021, OMG Select offers OMG UK clients exclusive access to line-ups that are hand-picked by OMG UK and human verified by Google to provide bespoke and transparent curated content, and unique access to premium and popular content for brand building. The line-ups have been designed to offer clients relevant, high quality, and brand suitable channels that align with brand objectives and the role of YouTube, particularly in gaining access to hard to reach audiences. Crucially, OMG UK’s internal buying data shows that OMG Select can deliver a 50% more cost effective reach, a 32% reduction in cost per thousand impressions, and a 3.6% point increase in video completion rates, when compared to other fixed rate buys.

Post a personal tour of the installations, provided via a head-set narration from OMG UK’s Chief Digital Officer, Henry Rowe, clients explored the art of AV planning and looked to the future of AV via talks by experts from both OMG UK & YouTube.  Speakers included OMG UK’s Chief Market Analyst Bhavin Balvantrai, who discussed the key trends set to impact AV in the future; highlighted in his recently launched report, Media Theme-onomics: Volume 1 – Accelerate, which delves into the seven key trends that are set to impact advertisers over the next three years.

During the events, OMG UK also launched their YouTube Best Practice Playbook, a comprehensive guide to help clients navigate the breadth of YouTube and to share best practices across planning, buying and measurement.

Dan Clays, CEO at OMG UK, said:

‘Our unique partnership with Google has enabled us to develop bespoke, industry leading technology and expertise that reflect the changing needs of our clients and their target audiences. It all enhances the level of precision and optimisations on YouTube – maximising reach, representation and ultimately creating competitive advantage for our clients. The AV Exhibition events have been an opportunity to celebrate this innovation and the opportunities this partnership has enabled for our clients.’

Matt Bush, MD of Agencies, Partners and Creatives, said:

“This series of events, as well as the launch of the playbook, are a testament to Omnicom Media Group UK being at the cutting edge of contemporary AV planning and buying. Their philosophy on the future of AV recognises that YouTube is essential to reach and capture audiences’ attention at scale, whilst driving business results.”