Clients select the best media agencies in Switzerland

MEDIA AGENCIES The Top750 clients have rated Swiss media agencies as part of an advertising market study. The winner of the agency rating is an old acquaintance.

What are the most popular Swiss media agencies? A broad-based Swiss agency rating provides information. More and more advertising clients are using the services of a media agency for their media work. In 2015, 485 of the 750 top advertising clients are already doing so. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of 6.1%. Of these, 290 answered the question of how well they know the 23 media agencies surveyed. 246 (more than ever before) stated that they knew exactly what at least one of these agencies stands for. This is a clear indication that the media agencies are becoming increasingly well established in the Swiss advertising market, although the assessment of the media agencies has not quite kept pace with this development. The average grade for the overall impression deteriorated slightly by 0.06 grade points to 7.67 compared to the previous year. By contrast, the assessment of the four services strategy, creativity, consulting and media buying looks better. This is where clients express their satisfaction with their media agency. The average score of all customer ratings for the four services increased by 0.12 grade points to 8.42 in 2015. A year ago, the customer rating had already improved by 0.21 grade points. The difference in the development of these two scores is due to the fact that all clients are allowed to comment on the overall impression, but only those who actually use these services as clients of the agency being assessed are allowed to comment on the four services.

M.e.d.i.a.s.c.h.n.e.i.d.e.rYes, once again this year it is mediaschneider that is lifting the trophy for the best media agency. And it has been doing so since 1998, year after year, without interruption. And that's saying something. A year ago it looked as if mediaschneider was slowing down slightly, but this year he has shown everyone that this is not the case. He has made gains in all seven disciplines and thus also widened the gap to his closest rivals. Like a true cycling champion, he lets his opponents close the gap. And then, when it's almost their turn, pedals even harder, simply leaves them standing and disappears never to be seen again.Mediaschneider known and appreciated throughout the countrymediaschneider is the best-known Swiss media agency and is most frequently recommended to a colleague. 128 clients comment on their overall impression of mediaschneider, 91 say they know exactly what this agency stands for and 67 recommend mediaschneider to a colleague. No other agency even comes close to these impressive figures. OMD comes closest with 88 mentions for overall impression, 50 clients who know what this agency stands for and 23 first recommendations. However, the marks that OMD receives from its clients are not enough to keep up with it in the battle for a place on the podium.Mediatonic - the second agency that towers above all othersThe silver medal again goes to mediatonic, the only agency from French-speaking Switzerland. Just as mediatonic lags behind Mediaschneider (-5.03 points), it is ahead of the third-placed agency Havas Media (+5.46 points). mediatonic received an 8.91 for overall impression (best score of all agencies) and a 9.17 for the four services of strategy, creativity, consulting and media buying. Considering that mediatonic was assessed by 44 clients, this is an extraordinarily high score. The highest score of 9.43 points was given to their media buying.Havas Media is the best network agencyHavas Media had to share this title with OMD last year, but now it can claim it for itself alone. On the one hand, it was able to increase its brand awareness. 45 clients know what the name Havas Media stands for (+7). But it also improved in all four individual services surveyed (+0.93 grade points). As in the previous year, 26 of its clients took part in the survey. With these values, it lags well behind second-placed mediatonic (-5.46 grade points) and is already trailing fourth-placed ZIPMedia, which is only 0.33 grade points behind.ZipMedia and Konnex have swapped placesZipMedia and Konnex, two other national media agencies, follow in the next two places. ZipMedia has steadily improved over the last four years and has moved up from 11th place (2011) to fourth place. As in 2014, it was awarded the highest score of all agencies for consulting this year (with 20 clients rating it in the survey). As a medium-sized agency, it also managed to take third place for initial recommendations. Konnex was also able to consolidate the increase in scores and rankings from last year. Although significantly more clients commented on Konnex, the marks they gave it were lower (-0.15). The same applies to clients' scores for individual services (-0.50).National media agencies also in the next four placesFour more national media agencies, Mediaplus, The Generation Media, TWmedia and Mediakanzlei, follow in places 6 to 9. Their scores are less than one point apart. For Mediaplus, sixth place means the best result ever achieved, The Generation Media was able to halt the downward trend of the last two years and work its way up again, TWmedia shows great consistency in terms of ranking and grades and Mediakanzlei made the biggest leap forward of all media agencies.The network agencies are lagging behindWith the exception of third-placed Havas Media, the major network agencies are unable to make a name for themselves in this rating. However, it is not just their clients who judge their services more harshly. It starts with a lower level of awareness in the market, continues with a less good overall impression and ends with far fewer first recommendations. And not simply as a one-off campaign.About the studyIn 2015, 366 of the 750 advertising clients surveyed took part in the Advertising Market Study, the sponsor study of the Agency Rating Media Agencies. Of these, 359 answered the agency rating questions. A total of 23 agencies were surveyed. 17 were assessed by at least 8 clients. The survey was conducted by the Media.Research.Group between mid-January and the end of February and further results can be found here: www.mediaresearchgroup.chAuthor: Walter Weder, Media.Research.Group