Omnicom Drives Away in a Porsche...

Porsche has awarded its $80 million global media planning and buying account to an Omnicom Group unit headed by Omnicom Media Group, which beat out Publicis Groupe siblings Optimedia and Starcom; WPP's MediaCom and Havas' MPG, the automaker has confirmed.

The U.S. incumbent, Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago, did not take part in the review. The independent Cramer-Krasselt manages Porsche's creative account, which was not part of this review.

In 2009 Porsche spent $27 million on measured media in the U.S., according to Kantar Media. The review was handled out of Germany and covers North America, the U.K., China, Germany and Italy. The automaker merged late last year with Volkswagen, Europe's largest car manufacturer. Volkswagen's media account, which was not part of this review, is handled by MediaCom.

For OMG, which currently has the $1 billion Nissan-Renault account under its umbrella at OMD, Porsche helps fill the gaping hole left by Chrysler, which moved from Omnicom's PHD to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann last December. People familiar with the Chrysler pitch said OMD put together a similar OMG-run unit to try and retain the Chrysler business but was unsuccessful.

PHD currently handles the Porsche account in Germany.