The Vodafone Group has contracted Omnicom’s OMD unit to handle its £800 million global media planning and buying account, much to the dismay of WPP, which was touted as the most likely winner of the contract as it takes care of Vodafone's media buying activities in 20 countries.

With this, all of the Newbury-based company’s media planning and buying account across every market, with the exceptions of the US, South Africa and France, will be consolidated at OMD.

Vodafone on Monday confirmed the statement and said it is looking to centralize its media buying activities to increase its clout.

More importantly, the contract represents a crucial change of strategy for Vodafone.

This is the first time that the company has looked to consolidate its media-buying accounts, as it is on the look out for more value for money across its widespread operations.

Previously, the deal had been handled by agencies like Carat, part of the Aegis Group.