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WPP has lost certainly one of its biggest North American clients for media buying and planning, Coca-Cola, handing a win to French rival Publicis.
Publicis — which last 12 months overtook WPP as the biggest agency on the earth based on revenues — has won Coke’s media business within the US and Canada following a competitive tender, in line with three people accustomed to the deal. Those near the contract said that Coke spent near $800mn yearly in overall billings.
WPP will remain Coca-Cola’s global marketing partner, including for media buying and planning elsewhere on the earth and can proceed to handle the general creative work for its promoting. The soft drinks business is predicted to renew this global partnership with WPP, which accounts for nearly all of the agency’s revenues.
WPP and Publicis declined to comment.
Coca-Cola said that WPP was its only “global marketing partner”, and confirmed that it was “in a sophisticated stage within the technique of renewing its global partnership with WPP”.
“Over the course of greater than three years, the partnership with WPP has delivered significant value to Coca-Cola,” said Manolo Arroyo, Coke’s global chief marketing officer. “After careful consideration, Coca-Cola is adding Publicis as a complementary partner for its US and Canada media business.”
On Friday, shares in WPP fell just below 2 per cent while Publicis shares were up 1.3 per cent in afternoon trading.
The London-listed promoting group’s stock fell to a four-year low last month after it warned that core revenues and profit margins can be flat at best this 12 months given greater uncertainty in core markets akin to the US and UK.
The group has committed to cost cutting measures and to spend more this 12 months on AI-focused technology to assist create higher and more targeted marketing campaigns.
WPP has recently brought in recent management at GroupM, its media buying arm, with Brian Lesser replacing Christian Juhl last summer as chief executive.
The group this 12 months pledged to “improve the competitiveness of our media offer, globally, with a give attention to the US” in its recent results.
WPP has also recently won other lucrative media accounts in North America, including for Johnson & Johnson’s US and Canadian business in December.
The US is WPP’s largest market, accounting for about 39 per cent of revenue. In its results last month, WPP said that the region had seen a slight decline in revenues in 2024, although media buying arm GroupM had registered growth within the period.
Publicis won plenty of recent media deals with clients last 12 months that helped boost its full-year results. Chief executive Arthur Sadoun told the Financial Times last month that Publicis was “the biggest media buyer — we’re buying each one dollar out of three” within the US promoting market.
