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WPP has retained its account with Coca-Cola, one its largest clients, according to the global beverage giant’s chief marketing officer Manuel Arroyo.
Writing on LinkedIn, the CMO said Coca-Cola had renewed its partnership with WPP and credited it with delivering “significant value” to the firm, which is one of the world’s largest advertisers.
“I’m happy to share that The Coca-Cola Company has renewed its partnership with WPP Open X as its global marketing partner,” he wrote. “We are living a special moment in marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, and I’m glad to have WPP Open X on our team to help us create the future of marketing.”
WPP’s Open X unit provides global creative duties, and media outside of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. for Coca-Cola.
“We are pleased to confirm that The Coca-Cola Company has renewed its partnership with WPP Open X, and we look forward to continuing our momentum as their global marketing network agency partner,” Julianna Richter, chief communications and marketing officer, WPP Open X told Digiday in an email.
A Coca-Cola spokesperson also confirmed the renewal.
WPP first won the Coca-Cola account in 2021, when the brand chose to consolidate an agency roster of thousands into the bespoke Open X unit, then principally backed by media arm GroupM and agency network Ogilvy.
The renewal hands a much-needed win to the beleaguered British agency holding company.
While WPP originally won Coca-Cola’s business as an all-in-one media and creative account, the drinks company awarded its North American media account (worth at least $700m) to Publicis Groupe in December.
WPP’s CEO Mark Read told analysts in April that the loss of the media account had been “difficult” for GroupM. Under GroupM’s new global CEO Brian Lesser, the holding company launched a surprise reorganization of its media businesses this month, following a first quarter revenue decline of 0.9%.
The holding company’s creative businesses, which include AKQA, VML and Ogilvy, account for 45% of its revenues ($2.48 billion in Q1) – slightly more than GroupM’s 40% – but they have struggled in recent months. Year-on-year first quarter revenue across its creative agencies fell 4.4%, a decline owed to declining project-based work and client caution.
The Coca-Cola renewal will likely be welcome news for the holding company’s executives as they seek to bolster shareholder, staff and client confidence after a bruising quarter.
This is a developing story.
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