As countries across the region explore the idea of a centralized, cross-government media-buying unit*, one question remains: how can a single framework balance efficiency and coherence without compromising transparency and speed?
Building on a model refined in the United Kingdom, Communicate gathered industry insights through a conversation with Adam Skinner, CEO/Managing Director, OmniGOV.
At its core, OmniGOV is not a traditional agency, but a dedicated contracting unit within Manning Gottlieb OMD, part of Omnicom Media Group, appointed to manage media buying for the UK government under the Crown Commercial Service framework.
More unity, better consistency
“In recent years, the general trend has actually been toward greater centralization, because governments increasingly want unified clarity over messaging,” Skinner explains.
Since its establishment in 2018, OmniGOV has acted as the single strategic media-buying partner for the UK’s central government, coordinating campaigns across public-sector entities.
“In terms of scale, roughly £200–250 million is spent each year through the contract, and around 30 to 40 government departments use it. The top 20 departments, mostly central government, account for about 70–80% of the spend,” Skinner reveals.
Rather than fragmenting budgets across departments, the system allows unified messaging and greater strategic consistency, while still addressing the needs of individual departments.
The contract is a four-year, competitively tendered agreement that centralizes government media buying under a single supplier to leverage scale, ensure transparency, and deliver value for taxpayers across departments.
“As our long-term media partner, OmniGOV have consistently proved how this centralized model is far more effective than other alternatives,” according to Conrad Bird, Director of Cross-Government Marketing and Campaigns at the UK Cabinet Office.
Bird highlighted the model’s core advantages: stronger negotiating power on media buying, reduced risk of internal competition for ad space: “In addition, a single supplier who has an overview of all our plans can ensure we don’t compete against each other for media space – which is what could very well happen if we were decentralized,” Bird says.
The ability to build long-term strategic partnerships grounded in shared data and learning is also crucial for governments. “This comes into sharp focus during national crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where you need to move forward fast with trusted partners, and, because so many departments are involved in these moments, it’s essential to have a single point of media buying contact,” Bird reveals.
Challenges and crises communication
One of the challenges, however, was about building those initial operations, according to Skinner.
“Working with the government required adapting to a very different system, but it also created a rare opportunity to reset everything. One day, there was no team; the next, over 100 people had to function as a cohesive unit. And so, we recreated processes, governance and reporting jointly with the client,” he highlights.
Those processes later became the foundation for a system with many advantages. Two moments capture these advantages.
“In our first year, the dominant political issue was Brexit, which was extremely controversial in the UK,” Skinner says. “This is when you realize that you’re part of something much bigger than what a typical media agency would normally do. You’re contributing to how a country communicates with its citizens during major events such as Brexit, COVID-19, and even the death of Queen Elizabeth II. That’s incredibly motivating for a team and demonstrates the value of centralization,” Skinner shares.
The Covid pandemic is perhaps the best example of effective, centralized media buying.
“Our communications had to move at the speed of the pandemic itself, and this could not have been achieved without a centralized media buying partner,” Bird agrees.
Such periods of significant tension required the government to communicate major policy changes quickly and clearly, creating a strong case for centralized communications.
“OmniGOV’s solutions have also been especially effective when we are working with multiple departments on a single audience-focused issue, such as tackling violence against women and girls. This collaboration gave us the advantage of centralized planning and buying, constant optimization and a relentless focus on harnessing the latest technologies to increase our campaign effectiveness,” Bird adds.
A learning experience
“Another major advantage of this centralized approach came from unlocking shared learning across departments. Previously, campaigns ran in silos, with little data exchange despite multiple government advertisers operating simultaneously,” Skinner explains.
With OmniGOV, that fragmentation gave way to a more structured approach, with standardized reporting, common evaluation frameworks, and shared effectiveness metrics.
“Over time, we created a central benchmark database, making it possible to track patterns, understand what worked, and refine strategy with far greater precision. That
was when we realized we had created something with lasting impact,” Skinner highlights.
Conrad Bird agrees, stating that “the OmniGOV benchmark database brought a level of precision to budgeting decisions that we never had before. It enables us to estimate the right investment to achieve the outcome and then argue strongly for that investment with powerful evidence.”
Accountability and transparency
At such a scale, accountability and trust are crucial for credibility.
“From the outset, we were clear that the partnership had to operate on a fully transparent basis, formalized through a Transparency Manifesto embedded within publicly certified contract terms. Any model of this kind, in my view, must be built on full openness,” Skinner stresses.
But transparency cannot stop at the agency level.
“Governments themselves need to be clear with citizens about how public advertising is conducted, especially in the digital space, where concerns around misinformation are more acute,” Skinner explains.
Beyond the debate on misinformation, a more immediate concern for taxpayers remains how effectively their money is being spent.
“As government communicators, we are responsible for spending taxpayers’ money and are, quite rightly, held to the highest standards of accountability and transparency, which includes regular independent audits of OmniGOV’s performance,” Bird clarifies.
One practical example is the SAFE Framework, which OmniGOV made publicly available.
“The SAFE Framework governed how digital spend was handled: where we invest, where we don’t, and the standards campaigns must meet. Many of our processes followed the same principle: open, documented, and accessible,” Skinner says.
Big impact. small budget
Despite the magnitude of the OmniGOV campaign in impact, Skinner revealed that the government budget is a “relatively small part of the overall market.”
“Even though the UK government is often one of the largest advertisers domestically, its total spending still represents less than 1% of the entire advertising market,” he continues.
However, OmniGOV did invest in strong relationships with small media owners.
“We organized, for example, biannual engagement sessions where we brought media owners together and presented government communication priorities. This helped them understand how to support public campaigns more effectively,” he explains.
Another interesting element is the role of smaller suppliers.
Since government communications aim to reach all citizens, not just the largest audiences, working with a long tail of smaller media suppliers is crucial.
“We created initiatives to support smaller businesses, providing them with early payment systems, guidance on how to access government advertising budgets and programs explaining how the procurement system works,” Skinner says.
In the UK government media spending with SMEs is typically around 8–10%, compared with about 2–3% in the private sector, positioning government media buying as both a communications tool and an economic lever.
“As a government, we are fully committed to supporting UK small businesses. OmniGOV has played an important role in helping smaller companies in the media space achieve the standards of brand safety and evaluation that we need to demonstrate effectiveness for the taxpayer,” Bird reassures.
On the use of AI
Governments and individuals are equally keen to use AI to improve productivity, with reports showing that 78% of global businesses integrate AI into operations.
“I can only imagine that this trend will accelerate,” Skinner says. “We’re seeing developments such as synthetic audience panels and other data-driven tools becoming more common. But like most technologies, AI is a double-edged sword: it offers clear benefits but also introduces new challenges. The need for human governance and new forms of compliance will grow.”
For policymakers elsewhere, OmniGOV offers a rare, proven model of how centralization can work at scale, aligning national messaging without undermining accountability, speed or transparency. The real challenge lies not in the structure itself, but in how effectively governments set and apply benchmarks within it.
*Media strategy and buying: Planning and purchasing paid media across TV/video, radio, press, digital, social, search, out‑of‑home and cinema for government campaigns.
