The latest RECMA Qualitative Evaluation report shows that Touché is holding onto its industry. That said, fellow Omnicom agency OMD also saw a rebound to #5 after a challenging 2017.

RECMA, which released its evaluation July 2, determines media agency ranking according to qualitative evaluation based on two groups of criteria: vitality and structure. A four-point strength scale of minus one to plus two assesses the agency on each of the 18 points of analysis.

GroupM’s Wavemaker, freshly merged from MEC and Maxus, debuted on the list at #2 thanks to its balance of vitality and structure scores. Cossette Media, a Vision 7 agency, came in at #3 and Group M’s Mindshare (combined with m/Six) clocked in at #4.

Wavemaker, Cossette Media, Mindshare and IPG’s Initiative Media have been on the upswing since 2015. Carat and PHD, however, saw declines in their qualitative scores.

For Canada’s agency families, Omnicom came out on top. Although Omnicom saw a major dip in its total score (from 53 to 44) between June and December 2017, narrowing the gap between it and second-place agency group GroupM, it held onto those 44 points and its lead. GroupM came in second with a total of 36 points (up from 34).

IPG gained one point to total 26, pulling ahead of Dentsu Aegis Network, which it previously tied with. Dentsu, for its part, lost four points and came in with 21 total points. Jungle and Cossette parent company Vision 7 continued the upward trend it’s been on since November 2016, now at 18 points. Publicis slid from seven points to six, marking its second straight decline. Havas was the lowest agency family on the list with one point, however it was up from two straight reports with a net zero score.

Vitality points are awarded according to the agency’s competitiveness in pitches, as well as its momentum, which includes business wins and losses over the past year, agency growth, client portfolio growth, awards and changes and stability of CEOs and head of expertise.

Structure points are allotted by looking at factors such as agency resources, services and expertise, diversification and its client profile, including big advertisers, vulnerability to top clients and client relationship stability.

The structure criteria includes the measurement and evaluation of digital activities. RECMA’s two main metrics to ascertain the level of digitization and diversification are digital staff (number, expertise, number of clients) and the agency’s share of non-traditional media activities.