…and tumbles down top agency rankings as billings fall by 92m

Saatchi & Saatchi has fallen from first to fourth place, losing almost 30 per cent of its billings, year on year, in the agency rankings figures prepared by Register-MEAL for Marketing Week.

Saatchi & Saatchi has fallen from first to fourth place, losing almost 30 per cent of its billings, year on year, in the agency rankings figures prepared by Register-MEAL for Marketing Week.

The figures measure client spending on TV, radio, cinema, display press and outdoor advertising from April 1995 to March 1996, compared with the same period in the previous year.

It’s the first time Saatchi hasn’t been the top agency since 1988, says Register-MEAL. Saatchi clients spent 92m less through the agency in the year to March. The agency showed the largest percentage fall-out of all the agencies in the top ten.

“We lost the equivalent of an agency the size of Bartle Bogle Hegarty almost at a stroke [when Maurice Saatchi left]. But we have done an extraordinary job since. We’ve got a lot more business coming through and we aim to be number one again,” says Tamara Ingram, Saatchi joint managing director.

By contrast, JWT took the top spot with a year-on-year increase of almost 13m, up nearly five per cent.

“It’s a consequence of spending from seven or eight new clients, like Boots and Legal & General, reaching full whack. Long-standing clients like Kellogg and Nestlé are also spending well,” says Stephen Carter, JWT managing director.

However, the biggest percentage increase in billings was Young & Rubicam, which increased by 42 per cent year on year.

Toby Hoare, chief executive of Young & Rubicam, says: “We have had our best new business year for the past five years.”