Forget the Jets and the Sharks, the Yankees and the Red Sox, or Arsenal v. Spurs (on my side of the pond). Few rivalries run as deep as Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
That explains why Madison Avenue was so stunned by last week’s news: Publicis Groupe had won PepsiCo’s $1.7 billion global media, data, and tech account without a traditional pitch. (Omnicom was Pepsi’s global media partner for more than 25 years, though Publicis media agencies did already work with the beverage and snacks giant in some markets in Asia.)
The context: Publicis handles Coca-Cola’s media in North America — and was competing against incumbent WPP for Coke’s global business.
“I was gobsmacked and shellshocked all week,” one marketing consultant told me. Another sent me an unprintable expletive.
Two people familiar with the matter told me Publicis has withdrawn from Coke’s global pitch and is set to resign the North America account — a business it had won from WPP last year. The Coke North America business is estimated to be worth $805 million, while the global business amounts to $1.8 billion in spending, per the research company COMvergence.
AdAge reported on Tuesday that Coke is now planning to put its North American media business back under review.
Publicis’ coup is widely viewed as a masterstroke by Arthur Sadoun’s company, which similarly clinched Microsoft’s media business in April without a formal pitch. It also shows how consolidation of the agency landscape is reshaping CMOs’ options — particularly for marketers who demand category exclusivity.
Madison Avenue’s review culture
When Coca-Cola confirmed its global media review in June, Pepsi’s marketing team quickly seized the opportunity to strike before it was too late.
If Publicis had won Coke, Pepsi would have had few obvious alternatives to retaining Omnicom as its global media partner. WPP and Publicis’ relationship with Coke would have made those agencies off-limits, and Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG, as well as Dentsu’s international struggles, left few other scaled global media operations in the market for a company of PepsiCo’s size.
“Top-to-top dealmaking is getting more prevalent vis-a-vis running a process with guarantees on people, remuneration, and media cost,” said Ruben Schreurs, CEO of the marketing consultancy Ebiquity. “Is this a sign of the times to come?”
It’s an embarrassing blow for Coke, which had been expecting to convene leaders from Publicis and WPP in Mexico City this week in the latest stage of the global media pitch. Only WPP made it.
Reviews are costly and time-consuming for both agencies and clients: WPP and Publicis execs had already flown to Shanghai and London as part of the process.
Some major global advertisers deem these lengthy processes necessary as they make major decisions over which agencies are best equipped to handle their billions of dollars in ad spending. It’s not just about which agency has the most persuasive “pitch” and charismatic leaders in the presentation room. Advertisers and their procurement teams can spend months, and even years, haggling on pricing, the top people who will be assigned to their accounts, and stress-testing agencies’ capabilities in areas such as data, tech, commerce media, and increasingly AI. Volkswagen’s global media review memorably stretched over three years before it reappointed Omnicom’s PHD in 2024.
Given all the complexity involved in such reviews, industry insiders said they were surprised that Publicis’ move came as the Coke review was well underway.
“It couldn’t have been more shocking in a more shocking category with two more shocking brands at a more shocking point in the process,” an agency head told me.
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