GroupM: GroupM agencies tighten grip over Emvie; what it means for the industry

Mumbai: Awards boost employees' morale, attract better talent, and help agencies win more business. However, this holds true only when the award is competitive. A top executive from one of the GroupM agencies expressed his anguish despite sweeping most of the awards at Emvie 2025, held last week in Mumbai.A look at the winners of the Emvie Awards since 2019 confirms a drop in competitiveness, as the dominance of GroupM agencies (Wavemaker, Mindshare, EssenceMediacom) continues to grow. According to the points tally calculated by the Advertising Club, GroupM agencies led the Emvie 2019 with a 70% share.When the awards returned in 2022 after a COVID-induced hiatus of two years, GroupM agencies captured 77% of total award points. There was a further 10% jump the very next year, as the award points earned by GroupM agencies rose to an astonishing share of 87%. While this dipped slightly to 81% in 2024, last week's awards witnessed near-complete dominance by GroupM agencies, as they cornered 85% of total award points. All other agencies combined earned a mere 15% of the total award points.Agency20192022202320242025GroupM70%77%87%81%85%IPG Mediabrands13%15.7%4.8%9%5%Publicis Media000.8%2%6.7%Madison7.7%2.9%2.4%3.3%2%Havas00.5%01%0.3%Omnicom1.4%2.4%1.6%3.6%0.6%Dentsu5.3%01.6%00Emvie celebrated its silver jubilee this year, but the event was marked by the absence of top leadership from across agencies, including Ad Club president Rana Barua. Sources suggest this was to avoid discussions about the recent raids on agencies by the Competition Commission of India.However, a few senior executives from various media agencies told BestMediaInfo.com that Emvie is no different from private awards, where one entity dominates to such an extent that other agencies feel discouraged from participating. "The last Agency of the Year title won by a non-GroupM agency was by Madison in 2012. Since then, GroupM agencies have been consistently dominating the awards in a round-robin fashion," said a competing agency head.The agency head further told BestMediaInfo.com, "It's all about the volume of entries. We send just token entries for the sake of participation in an industry award. We are not questioning the credibility of Emvie, but we cannot send hundreds of entries while being stressed about revenue," he quipped.Business vis-à-vis awardsAwards are known to drive more business and serve as validation of the quality of work produced by an agency. When asked how much this holds true, a senior executive from a non-GroupM agency told BestMediaInfo.com that he agrees to some extent but emphasized that it must make business sense."Whether awards win businesses or businesses win awards has long been debated. At a time when margins and revenues are shrinking to an unsustainable level, spending a huge amount of money on awards is only possible for cash-rich agencies," the senior executive added."Our clients' growth is a stamp on the quality of our work, not awards driven by a mindless number of entries. The same principle applies to employees' morale as well," the executive concluded.