Advertising Age reported Kenvue completed a dizzying pitch, choosing WPP and Publicis Groupe as its new White holding companies to handle global creative and media duties, respectively.
An official statement declared, “This powerful combination gives Kenvue the strongest blend of enduring creativity and modern precision to elevate brand building.”
Pharmaceutical promotional PR clearly doesn’t undergo the same rigorous scrutiny as pharmaceutical marketing. Terms like “the strongest blend of enduring creativity” and “elevate brand building” would never gain approval from any regulatory committee.
The awarding and announcement also expose symptoms of ailments in Adland.
First, all global corporations will choose exclusively among six White holding companies to service portfolio brands.
Second, there will be no mention of distinct White advertising agencies, as White holding companies have orchestrated the commoditization of Adland, whereby people, places, and practices are repetitive, redundant, and replaceable.
Finally, the Tylenol maker should know “the strongest blend of enduring creativity and modern precision to elevate brand building” is useless against the marketing mayhem generated by President Donald J. Trump.
Kenvue selects Publicis and WPP after global creative and media agency review
By Ewan Larkin
Tylenol maker Kenvue has selected Publicis Groupe and WPP as the winners of its global creative and media agency review.
The review spanned media, brand and production. Brand work included creative, influencer, healthcare professional communications, shopper and commerce. Kenvue said in a statement that WPP will handle creative and production for all brands except Neutrogena, while Publicis will manage media, influencer, commerce, healthcare professional support and technology, in addition to creative and production for Neutrogena.
“This powerful combination gives Kenvue the strongest blend of enduring creativity and modern precision to elevate brand building,” Kenvue stated. “We are very grateful for the tremendous partnership of Mediasense who supported the review and deeply appreciative of all the exceptionally talented teams who participated in the pitch.”
Kenvue’s media roster previously included Interpublic Group of Cos. globally and Publicis, which oversaw Asia-Pacific, while creative duties were handled by Interpublic’s FCB and Deutsch, Omnicom’s BBDO and Stagwell’s Doner. Omnicom also competed in the review, Ad Age reported in October, pitching the business alongside IPG, which it acquired in late November.
WPP and Publicis deferred calls for comment to the client. Omnicom declined to comment.
The pitch aimed “to allow us to simplify how we work, enhance executional excellence, and better align our partners to support our global growth agenda,” Kenvue previously said in a statement.
Kenvue spent $1.6 billion globally on advertising last year, according to its most recent annual filing, up from $1.3 billion in 2023.
The company has been under pressure of late due to the Trump administration declaring that Tylenol, one of its flagship brands, is a potential cause of autism. However, motivations for the review went well beyond Tylenol for the company, which also markets such high-profile brands as Listerine, Neutrogena, Aveeno, Band-Aid, Motrin and Johnson’s Baby.
The decision follows Kenvue’s recent appointment of Jon Halvorson as chief marketing officer. Halvorson joins from Oreo maker Mondelēz International and brings experience from both Publicis and Omnicom.
No comments:
Post a Comment