MEC UK Ends 2016 as Campaign's Media Agency of the Year, Following Record New Business Performance and Outstanding Award Success

LONDON, December 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

2016 highlights:

• Over £250 million in billings won in pitches
• 24 Golds won across a breadth of awards, including IPA Effectiveness, Media Week, Campaign Media, and a D&AD Pencil
• Agency credited with "full-service behaviour" and initiatives that "stand out from rivals"

MEC UK (http://www.mecglobal.co.uk ) has rounded off an impressive 2016 with the prestigious award of Campaign's Media Agency of the Year title.

The title recognises the agency's most successful-ever year in terms of new business, the launch of pioneering divisions in the content and specialist client spaces, and industry-leading client work that scooped awards across all disciplines, under the leadership of Jason Dormieux who was appointed sole CEO in February.

Campaign highlighted Dormieux's full service behaviour thinking, and the creation of the Partner Centre, a shared space that takes up a third of MEC's office space in which partners, from brands, media owners and other agencies, can collaborate whenever they want.

The agency's stellar new business performance included over£250 million won in pitches, resulting in 14 new clients such as BMW, Deezer, the Department for Work and Pensions, Fidelity, Nationwide and Pfizer.

Meanwhile, MEC's strong client leadership was rewarded by its 100% retention of existing clients repitched for during 2016, including Transport for London (TfL), Beiersdorf and Henkel.

MEC has won a total of 24 Golds at leading industry events, including an IPA Effectiveness Gold for Stoptober for Public Health England (PHE), a Media Week Gold for Sugar Smart, also for PHE, and a Campaign Media Gold for TfL's Share the Road. At the Performance Marketing Awards, the agency also won two Gold awards for Butlin's and the Grand Prix for Vodafone's 4G Campaign.

This year, MEC became the first media agency to win a D&AD Pencil, for the "World's First Sugar Accumulator" for PHE, and picked up a Webby for the same campaign.

MEC has shown innovation in business terms, launching its MEC Wavemaker content division and MEC Select, to offer a bespoke service to clients in specialist fields.

In addition to naming MEC as Media Agency of the Year, Campaign acknowledged the exceptional standard of the agency's leadership team, which includes Chief Operating Officer Paul Hutchison, Managing Director Sarah Hennessy, Chief Data Officer David Fletcher and Chief Strategy Officer Verra Budimlija. In addition, Dormieux was named in Campaign's top four "Media Agency Suits" of 2016 and Budimlija in the top three Media Planners.

MEC was at the forefront of initiatives to make advertising and media a more inclusive place. The "Age in the Workplace" research and event created debate around people over 50 working in the industry and MEC refreshed the talent recruitment process with the Live Hire at Ad Week Europe and through its new Evolution apprenticeship programme.

The agency was also named a Sunday Times Best Company to Work For, for the sixth consecutive year and it won the Special Award for Wellbeing for its MyPerks employee benefits scheme.

Reflecting on MEC's 2016, Dormieux said: "We've had an outstanding 2016 and being named Campaign's Agency of the Year has crowned it. We've moved into a new home, restructured our teams around client hubs and dedicated a third of our office space to promoting collaboration with all our partners. I'm delighted that the hard work of our exceptional people has been recognised with such fantastic new business and award success. Bring on 2017."

MEC is part of WPP, the world's largest marketing communications services group, and a founding member of GroupM, WPP's consolidated media investment management arm.

About MEC
MEC is committed to growth. Growth for our people, our clients and our industry. MEC pushes the boundaries of what's possible in order to thrive in ~ Ad Ops ~ Analytics ~ Brand Partnerships ~ Content Marketing ~ Data ~ Insight ~ Integrated Planning ~ Mobile ~ Multi-cultural ~ Performance Marketing ~ Planning & Buying ~ Programmatic ~ Search ~ Social ~ Sport, Entertainment & Cause Marketing. Our 5,000 highly talented and motivated people work with category leading advertisers in 93 countries. To find out more, visit us at http://www.mecglobal.com #dontjustlivethrive