The move is a significant admission by Omnicon of the value that procurement can bring to the business following years of being on the receiving end of procurement teams who rightly see advertising and media buying as a rich hinting ground for savings.

“Procurement will play a role in helping our negotiators figure out ways to save money on media spends,” Page Thompson, the North American CEO of Omnicom told AdvertisingAge. “The rules are no longer the same, and procurement is becoming a bigger part of the process. Managing the investment costs that we oversee for all of our clients is the most important things we do and clearly this is an opportunity to change the rules of the game and bring a new dimension and perspective to our negotiating teams.”