OpenAI has appointed PHD, part of Omnicom Media Group, as its global media agency of record, a significant step in the company’s expanding marketing strategy and a clear signal of its intent to invest heavily in brand growth worldwide. Furthermore, this is OpenAI’s first global media AOR engagement, signaling a shift from in-house efforts to formal agency-led global media planning and buying. It also comes at a time when OpenAI is accelerating its consumer marketing investment.
“We can confirm that PHD has been named global media AOR for OpenAI,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing more work coming out of the partnership in the near future.“ According to AdAge, OpenAI did not immediately return a request for comment on the appointment or whether it has a lead creative agency.
The AI company began working with PHD earlier this year, when it launched a digital and social campaign aimed at college students unfamiliar with chatbot technology. The goal was to encourage and promote ChatGPT as a study aid for college students. Creative for the campaign was handled internally by OpenAI’s own team.
As a reminder, in late 2023, OpenAI brought on Kate Rouch, former Chief Marketing Officer at Coinbase, as its first-ever CMO. Although Rouch is currently on temporary leave after revealing a breast cancer diagnosis, she had outlined a bold, proactive marketing approach for OpenAI during her tenure. Former Meta CMO Gary Briggs is serving as interim head of marketing in her absence. Just months after Rouch’s arrival, OpenAI made its debut in large-scale advertising with its first Super Bowl commercial, a visually striking animated spot titled “The Intelligence Age.” Developed in collaboration with Accenture Song, the 60-second ad presented ChatGPT as a transformative milestone in human progress. The campaign significantly boosted the company’s media visibility. According to MediaRadar, OpenAI’s U.S. media spend in Q1 2024 surged to $19 million, a dramatic leap from just $2,600 during the same period the previous year.
Meanwhile, other Omnicom agencies have also supported ventures linked to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. For instance, in June, BBDO New York helped launch the U.S. introduction of World, a project backed by Altman focused on secure digital identity verification.
Furthermore, these partnerships come at a pivotal moment for Omnicom. Should the holding company move forward with its proposed acquisition of Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG) later this year the resulting entity could find itself managing media operations for three of the most prominent players in the generative AI sector: OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity. Currently, IPG Mediabrands handles media planning and buying for both Anthropic and Perplexity.
