Dive Brief:

• The Coca-Cola Company has moved its media and data business in North America from WPP to Publicis Groupe following a closed door review, Adweek reported.  
• The decision is a setback for WPP, which formed a bespoke unit called Open X for the beverage giant in 2021 after being named global marketing network partner. Coke spent about $785 million on media in the U.S. last year, according to Comvergence data.  
• Publicis, which was part of the original pitch for Coke’s account back in 2020, has been on a hot streak as agency network rivals struggle for growth. The Coke win could be especially timely, as soft drink brands are ramping up marketing activity in areas like better-for-you beverages.   

Dive Insight:

Publicis might be snapping up Coke’s North American media business at just the right time. Competition in the prebiotic soda category is hitting a fever pitch, with Coke recently launching its first offering in the space through its Simply line of beverages. Coke’s chief rival PepsiCo on Monday announced it was acquiring prebiotic upstart Poppi for $1.95 billion, teeing up a new fight in the long-running soda wars. Both beverage giants see better-for-you products as an inroad to young consumers who have shunned full-sugar sodas and are conscious of ingredients like artificial sweeteners.

Multiple factors can lead to an agency review, but Publicis has continued to round out its specialty in the critical area of data-driven marketing. Earlier this month, the ad-holding group purchased identity solutions firm Lotame, a deal that gives Publicis access to nearly 4 billion unique consumer profiles around the world, or about 91% of internet-connected adults. When WPP first won the Coke business, executives cited the network’s global scale as a key differentiator. 

WPP will retain other aspects of Coke’s business, but the shift still comes as a blow for a company that is fighting to return to growth. WPP and Coke did not respond to Marketing Dive’s request for comment on the news. Publicis declined to comment on the development. The pitch was overseen by MediaSense.

The year has so far been marked by setbacks for WPP, the world’s largest ad agency. In January, Starbucks moved the bulk of its U.S. creative work to Stagwell’s Anomaly just months after assigning WPP those duties. WPP was in the process of building out a bespoke Team Starbucks unit drawing on talent from multiple agencies, a marketing services model not dissimilar to an offering like Open X.

WPP saw like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs, an important indicator of organic agency growth, decline 2.3% in Q4 while the measure was down 1% on the full year. Conversely, Publicis was up 6.3% in Q4 and 5.8% across 2024. Both agencies are contending with a gloomy macroeconomic picture as a mounting trade war threatens to tip the U.S. into a recession, which could carry severe implications on ad spending.