Starcom MediaVest gets ‘A' rating

Iain Jacob, CEO of SMG Europe, Middle East and Africa says, "It is great to see that the South African company is setting the standards in strategic thinking and creativity, it is a vindication of the team's focus."

"This latest acknowledgment comes on the back of SMG being the only media agency to be awarded a Roger Garlick finalist and internationalist magazine awarding SMG a Silver Internationalist Award for Innovation in Media for the activation of SA's biggest swimsuit shoot for P&G's Gillette Venus Breeze campaign. Globally, our network has entered this campaign into the Cannes Media Lions. We are absolutely delighted," says Gordon Patterson, group MD of the local SMG.

Research parameters

The RECMA research is based on a partnership with more than 600 media agencies and other partners (trade press; research companies specialising in advertising monitoring; industry bodies and media consultants). Its team has already visited the media agency industry in 52 markets.

Agencies are ranked with grades from A+ to C, by country then at a regional and finally global level. This research compiles 2000 account moves from 289 media agencies in 20 countries. A comparison over the five previous years provides a mid-term view. Additional to the 14 network rankings, RECMA ranks the six groups of networks in 2009 and over the five years.