Big wins in CPG and retail made Carat the top agency in Canada for new business in the first half of the year.

That’s according to the latest report from global firm COMvergence. Every six months, the firm ranks global agencies, as well as groups, by their new business wins, while also tracking losses and retentions. It also breaks down wins and losses per market, and has revealed the top-five agencies in Canada.

The scores upon which the rankings are based are derived from the value of the accounts’ ad spend data. The data is sourced by COMvergence from Numerator and is based on 2018 ad spend. Only accounts with more than US$1 million in ad spend were counted; for example, Carat’s win of small brewer Steam Whistle in March was not among the business counted toward rankings.

(All values are in U.S. dollars).

For total new business, Carat came out on top with 108 points, which came from two new client wins representing $103 million in ad spend. While Carat lost two accounts over the first half of the year, the spend was much lower (an estimated $5 million). Carat also retained two accounts, representing an estimated $10 million.

Outside sources confirmed to MiC that one of Carat’s big wins this year was IKEA. MiC had also previously confirmed that earlier this year, Carat won several aspects of P&G’s business. The CPG company’s baby and skin portfolio was retained by Hearts and Science, while some unspecified aspects of the business are also handled by an in-house team.

Cossette Media was next for new business, with a score of 40. That is based entirely off of one account valued at $40 million. Neo@Ogilvy followed with a new business score of 24, from two new business wins valued at a total of $24 million. Following Neo was Havas Media, which won four accounts in the first half of the year valued at a total of $16 million. Cossette, Neo and Havas also posted no losses (or retentions) in the first half of the year.

Rounding out the top-five was Initiative; the IPG agency boasted a total score of eight, with its new accounts representing $10 million in annual spend (with an estimated loss of $2 million).

The immense value of new business for Carat made Dentsu Aegis Network the highest score of all groups in Canada, with five new clients won valued at $113 million, four total losses at $12 million and two retentions valued at $10 million.

Following Dentsu Aegis Network were Havas Media Group with $16 million in wins and no losses, and IPG Mediabrands with $23 million in wins across eight clients, $9 million in losses from four accounts and no retentions.