Media Perspective: Omnicom can't risk taking its eye off the media playing field.(Omnicom Group Inc.)

It's hard to fault Omnicom's performance over the past few years. A strong management, share price, creative networks and, eventually, a media network, in the shape of OMD, has given it much to shout about.

Omnicom has been the star stock of the agency holding companies, but has recently lost some of its most senior media people. Joe Uva and David Pattison, the global heads of OMD and PHD respectively, were followed out of the door by local UK talent such as the OMD chief executive, Nick Manning, and the PHD president, Jonathan Durden. Even the departure of Martin Brooks, the chief executive of Omnicom's Zulu operation, could be said to have a possible impact on its media operations, as he was instrumental in launching OPera Digital, its online negotiations arm.

Of course, this is a process of natural progression for most of those departing. They are moving on to new challenges at the right time, and Omnicom is the sort of powerhouse operation that seems just to shrug its shoulders and bring in new talent to replace them.

Both OMD and PHD at UK level have, for instance, promoted relatively seamlessly from within. However, this tide of natural change is prompting some to question the direction in which Omnicom's very profitable media operations are heading.

OMD has come from nowhere to become a serious global player, with its enviable positioning as a 'creative' media network (grounded in reality by its strong performance at ...