In the news this past week: Agencies Omnicom was as usual first out of the gate with 3Q results. Once again, they set a high bar for rival groups to hit. (Last quarter also, Omnicom far outperformed

global CEO of Omnicom's Interbrand design agency, announced plans to step down at the end of the year. He will be replaced by Charles Trevail, current head of another Omnicom branding specialist C Space

and some Latin American territories. Omnicom's PHD joins the roster with Australia (from Mediacom), India and Vietnam. Departing the roster is Interpublic's UM which had managed Canada and some Latin

Omnicom launched a new dedicated CRM division under the umbrella of its DAS Global entity, which houses its vast collection of diversified agencies. Omnicom Precision Marketing will take on oversight

Omnicom 3.5%, Publicis 0.8%, Interpublic 0.4%, WPP revenues -0.8%, Havas -0.9%, WPP net sales -1.7%, Dentsu -4.8%. Much smaller MDC scored a gain of 11.7%. In an important victory for Publicis Groupe'

So far, among the big groups, only Omnicom appears to have shrugged off the gloom, largely as a result of its two big account wins of P&G and AT&T media. WPP said revenues for 2Q were down 0.8%, its first

and significantly below Omnicom for the latest quarter. The US managed 0.7% organic growth, but international was flat overall as modest uplift in the UK (1.9%) was offset by a 2.5% decline across continental

Omnicom's results showed that Publicis was not the only group to find the going tough in North America. The US group also clawed a paltry 0.2% from its home markets, but did considerably better elsewhere.

The Omnicom-owned agency made up for a small part of those twin losses with the capture of Center Parcs holiday resorts across continental Europe. Two significant reviews: L'Oreal called a pitch in Germany,

two big transfers of media accounts between WPP and Omnicom. In the UK, Sainsbury's is reported to have dropped WPP-controlled M/Six - appointed only four months ago - to return to its former agency PHD.