WPP has won nearly all of the US$4 billion Coca-Cola business in a pitch that began last December. WPP previously held about 30% of the Coke account globally. Dentsu will have a media role in Japan and Korea.
WPP will be Coca-Cola’s global marketing network partner operating under a unit called OpenX. The team will manage creative, media, data and marketing technology across Coca-Cola’s entire portfolio of brands and its global ventures, including Costa and Innocent.
The partnership begins immediately.
“As we designed our new marketing operating model, it became increasingly clear that simplicity was critical to successfully operating a vast geographical and diversified business network, which also includes our bottling system,” stated Manolo Arroyo, global chief marketing officer for The Coca-Cola Company. “I am delighted to be partnering with WPP as we accelerate our marketing transformation. We were impressed by WPP’s ability to balance what it takes to deliver integrated consumer experiences at a global scale with the agility, speed and data-driven insights that are required to win locally. WPP will bring creative excellence and unparalleled marketing capabilities at a global scale that no other network can deploy.”
Mark Read, chief executive officer of WPP, commented, “We are delighted to be appointed as The Coca-Cola Company’s global marketing network partner, a catalyst for its transformation and growth, and to bring the outstanding creativity, data-rich insights and media expertise needed to create connected consumer experiences. This partnership, integrating our capabilities across content, media, data, production and technology, operating locally and globally, will complement The Coca-Cola Company’s globally networked organisation.”
Dentsu was named a complementary media partner on the account, operating in select Asian markets.
“Dentsu is an incredible agency that combines rich human insights with the leading-edge analytics and technology capabilities required to design and execute connected consumer experiences,” Arroyo stated. “They are the perfect complementary partner for us, bringing distinctive strengths in some of our highest priority areas.”
Coca-Cola’s agency roster will also include an “open-source” creative model that allows the company to tap into the world’s best creators. No details have been announced about how the program will work.
WPP won the pitch against major holding companies – IPG, Dentsu, Publicis. The review spanned more than 200 countries and included Coca-Cola’s creative, media, mar tech, production management, shopper and experiential marketing businesses. The loss is a blow for IPG, which held about 30% Coca-Cola’s business including its entire US media buying account, worth roughly $400 million. IPG’s UM won the account in 2015.
