As published on Campaign.

by Alison Weissbrot | September 27, 2023

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has won the bulk of Uber’s global media business, the agency shared exclusively with Campaign US.

The Omnicom-owned media network will service Uber in North America, Europe and Latin America as its global media AOR, spanning planning, buying and strategy. Uber spends approximately $600 million on media globally, according to Comvergence.

EssenceMediacom has retained the business in Asia-Pacific, according to sources.

ID Comms handled the four month review, in which all major holding companies and independents participated.

The review kicked off in May, when Uber put out an RFI to agencies seeking “best-in-class strategic partner who will act as an extension of our internal media and marketing teams,” as first reported by Adweek. 

The ride-sharing giant was also seeking a global partner for media planning, buying and analytics, according to the RFI, as well as finding “innovative approaches to digital marketing.”

“Uber moves at a fast pace, and throughout the pitch we were impressed with Omnicom Media Group’s speed and agility, which along with the quality of their talent, technology — as embodied in their Omni marketing orchestration system — strategic thinking, and commitment to being a true partner to our business set them apart,” said David Mogensen, VP marketing, Uber, in a statement.

Uber has long managed programmatic buying in-house; it’s not clear what portion of the programmatic budget will continue to be handled internally.

In addition to increasing its scale as an advertiser, Uber has been investing heavily in its platform as a media business. It has been selling ads on the Uber Eats app since 2019, and expanded the business to its ride-hailing app this year. Drizly, which Uber acquired in 2021, launched an ad platform last year.

In June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Uber plans to introduce video ads across its apps as its advertiser base grew 80% year over year.

Uber Eats has advertised during the Super Bowl for the past two years, cementing its status as a major national advertiser.

Uber has 130 million monthly active users, according to internal data. The company’s 2022 revenues came in just shy of $32 billion. It operates in 10,000 cities across 70 markets.

The win is another notch in the belt for OMG, which this month has won Beiersdorf in North America and Europe and retained HSBC’s account globally. Additionally, OMG agency PHD won Grupo Bimbo’s global media account and Hearts & Science won Allwyn, the UK’s national lottery operator.

“As Uber continues to reimagine the way the world moves for the better, OMG has a unique opportunity to partner with them in reimagining the way they engage with their riders, users and earners,” said  Florian Adamski, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, in a statement. “Putting our leading strategic data capabilities at the core of everything we do will allow us to redefine ways of working and operations that are truly agile, unlocking meaningful media innovation at the speed and scale of Uber’s ambition and vision.”