17498: Can’t Beat The Real Exclusivity.

Advertising Age reported The Coca-Cola Company is launching a global review for media, data, and technology, staging a France vs UK battle royale between Publicis Groupe and WPP.

 

The scenario underscores how serving global brands are closed affairs, exclusive privileges available only to a handful of White holding companies and a single White operating company.

 

In the US, Coca-Cola has a history of intentionally excluding Blacks from its marketing efforts.

 

Looks like the colorless campaign continues. Let them eat—and drink—crumbs.

 

Coca-Cola media, data and tech agency review pits WPP against Publicis

 

By E.J. Schultz, Brian Bonilla, and Ewan Larkin

 

Coca-Cola Co. will conduct a global agency review for media, data and technology needs, setting up a shootout between Publicis Groupe and WPP, the beverage giant confirmed.

 

The rival holding companies will compete for the business in Coca-Cola’s top global markets, excluding North America, where Publicis is the incumbent, and Japan and Korea, where it works with Dentsu, Coca-Cola confirmed to Ad Age. Mediasense will handle the review, which will begin in July with a decision expected in the fall.

 

The review is driven by Coca-Cola’s desire to evolve “its digital-first marketing operating system for future growth. This includes a shift in mindset from traditional media planning to the emerging ways we need to reach consumers through technology, including agentic tools,” the company stated.

 

Coca-Cola Co. reported $5.4 billion in ad expenses in 2025, up from $5.1 billion in 2024. Coca-Cola was the 19th-largest advertiser in the world and the 27th-largest advertiser in the U.S. based on 2024 spending, according to Ad Age Datacenter.

 

The review comes nearly five years after Coca-Cola hired WPP for creative, media, data and marketing technology across its 200 or so brands, setting up a bespoke unit called Open X. WPP in early 2025 lost its grip on a significant chunk of that business when Coca-Cola Co. hired Publicis Groupe for its North America media account. Now Publicis has an opportunity to significantly expand its remit with Coca-Cola, potentially at WPP’s expense. Publicis finished a close second during the 2021 review, but at that time, Manolo Arroyo, Coca-Cola’s global chief marketing officer, said WPP’s global reach tipped the scales in its favor.

 

The new review “coincides with a contract renewal cycle following the start of our five-year partnership with WPP Open X, which has helped to modernize our marketing approach and deliver significant business value,” Coke stated, adding that “global creative and PR disciplines are not in scope of this review and will remain with WPP Open X.”

 

“We are proud to serve as The Coca-Cola Company’s global network partner,” WPP shared in a statement. “The upcoming five-year contract renewal process coincides with Coca-Cola’s Next Chapter initiative, and we will continue to transform our capabilities in lockstep with them. We welcome the opportunity to showcase how our integrated media, data science, and agentic technology platform and solutions will continue to drive future growth across their key global markets.”

 

Publicis didn’t return requests for comment.

 

WPP has been building some much-needed momentum in the pitch room, with WPP Media raking in $1.5 billion in new client billings during the first quarter, according to COMvergence. There is, however, a lot riding on the Coca-Cola account. Marketing consultants previously told Ad Age that any further losses or missteps with the beverage giant could signal deeper systemic issues within WPP.

 

It is the latest test for Cindy Rose on the eve of her first time at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity as WPP’s CEO.

 

Open X has seen leadership changes since losing the North America media account. When Laurent Ezekiel moved from Open X CEO to take the top post at Ogilvy in September, WPP handed the reins of the bespoke team to Floriane Tripolino, previously WPP’s client lead for Nestlé and a former Publicis executive, with Ezekiel staying on as executive sponsor.

 

In September, Ezekiel told Ad Age the Open X model was going “very well.” At the same time, Devika Bulchandani, WPP’s chief operating officer, made clear that WPP intended to reclaim Coca-Cola’s North America media account.

 

In April, Coca-Cola reported a 12% jump in first-quarter net revenue, to $12.5 billion. The company in part credited efforts to execute “locally relevant marketing at scale to drive enduring brand value,” citing programs such as an AI‑enabled campaign in China inspired by traditional Chinese paper art. WPP’s EssenceMediacom cited the effort on its website, suggesting it led to 8% year-over-year sales growth.

 

Coca-Cola, in recent years, has shifted much of its advertising to targeted digital channels and stepped back from big tentpole events such as the Super Bowl. However, it still spends big on the World Cup and Olympics.

17497: Different Outhouse, Same Shit—Brought To You By Adland.

Adweek reported the former McCann Worldwide CCO, who left Omnicom Advertising after the acquisition of IPG, returned to Publicis Groupe, where he formerly served as Saatchi & Saatchi US and Latin America CCO, and will now serve as Leo Constellation Americas and Iberia CCO.

 

The winding opening sentence above underscores how White holding companies—and a single White operating company—have fueled the commoditization of Adland, whereby people, places, and practices are repetitive, redundant, and replaceable.

 

Why, even C-suite leaders shift from White advertising agency to White advertising agency, confirming all firms are essentially identical.

 

Of course, the drones must weather the storms of change, often cast away and lost in a sea of sameness.

 

The Adweek report closes with the most outrageous statement: “Part of his remit also includes recruiting and developing the agency’s talent pipeline.”

 

Recruiting and developing the agency’s talent pipeline?! Um, the newish CCO will draw from his limited pool of connections at Publicis Groupe, Omnicom Advertising, and the erased IPG to maintain the cronyism, exclusivity, and systemic racism in Adland.

 

Publicis Groupe Taps Javier Campopiano Following Omnicom Exit

 

He’ll join Leo Constellation as CCO for the Americas and Iberia

 

By Hannah Bowler

 

Two weeks after announcing his departure from Omnicom Advertising, Javier Campopiano is joining Publicis Groupe as global chief creative officer (CCO) for Leo Constellation Americas and Iberia.

 

The former McCann Worldgroup and McCann Worldwide CCO left Omnicom just six months after taking on his latest role following its acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG) in December 2025.

 

His appointment at Publicis follows the group’s $2.2bn purchase of LiveRamp. In a statement, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun, said Campopiano’s appointment showed the holdco’s commitment to creativity alongside such investments.

 

“Javier’s return is the latest demonstration of our commitment to investing in what remains a key differentiator for our clients: the very best talent, to drive creativity in all of its forms,” he said.

 

A return to Publicis

 

The move marks Campopiano’s return to Publicis Groupe where he previously served as CCO for Saatchi & Saatchi U.S. and Latin America. Campopiano initially left Publicis Group in 2022 to join Grey, also in a CCO role.

 

In a statement, Campopiano said his return had been on the cards for a while. “For years, Marco and I had this running joke where he would text me ‘come home’ completely out of the blue, and I would immediately reply ‘pronto.’ Well, the time has finally come,” he said.

 

At Leo Constellation he will report to global co-CEO’s Agathe Bousquet and Marco Venturelli. The pair said Campopiano was one of most respected creative leaders in adland. And added: “His ability to combine craft, humanity and impact makes him the perfect person to lead our creative community across the Americas and Iberia.”

 

Campopiano is a decorated exec having earned himself Cannes Lions, Clios, The ANDY Awards and D&AD’s.

 

At Leo Constellation he’ll work closely with the leadership team overseeing creative strategy and output across the group for both global and regional brands. Part of his remit also includes recruiting and developing the agency’s talent pipeline.

17496: Mo’ Media. Mo’ Money. Mo’ Problems.

 

Advertising Age reported advertiser concern over transparency with media agencies is still bad—a decade after the ANA published a report alleging shady and unethical practices in the field.

 

The global issue is especially significant given holding companies—including single White operating company WPP—are transforming into media-first enterprises with an imperative on generating revenue and profits. Sorry, but desperation for dollars leads to greed, scheming, and improprieties.

 

Expect advertising executives to elevate their notorious ranking on the list of least-trusted professions.

 

Media agency concerns persist, and are more complex for advertisers, 10 years after transparency investigation

 

By Ewan Larkin

 

A decade after the Association of National Advertisers published a report prepared by investigative firm K2 alleging that media agencies were collecting undisclosed cash rebates from media deals, advertiser concerns about agency transparency have barely changed—and the problem, according to the ANA, has only grown more complex.

 

An ANA survey of 108 member companies released today found 43% of advertisers have concerns about the level of transparency with their media agencies, down only slightly from the 46% who said the same in 2014, two years before the K2 report was published. Among those with concerns, 49% say the situation has gotten worse over the past year, up from 42% in 2014, with principal media—where media agencies buy media and resell it to clients—cited as the primary driver.

 

That marginal gain came as a disappointment to Bill Duggan, group executive VP at the ANA, who told Ad Age that the nation’s largest marketing industry trade group had been “absolutely hoping for more progress.”

 

“The elephant in the room, has enough changed in the last 10 years? No, I don’t think so,” said Duggan.

 

Progress has been halted, experts said, by the rapid growth of the media channels least amenable to scrutiny. Social media, digital, retail media and walled-garden platforms have surged in the decade since the K2 report, and with them the ad tech infrastructure that makes it harder to follow where money goes.

 

“The media that are in ascendancy now are the ones which are inherently less transparent,” said Nick Manning, a former Ebiquity executive who worked on the 2016 K2 report. “When you get ad tech involvement, you get a loss of transparency.”

 

Duggan acknowledged the original K2 report didn’t pay enough attention to principal media, which has become a significant and growing source of revenue for holding companies. Court filings made public earlier this year from an ongoing legal dispute between WPP and former GroupM executive Richard Foster illustrated the scale: a report prepared by Foster in December 2024 stated WPP generated roughly $1 billion annually from rebates and principal-based media buying combined, with principal media accounting for $713 million of that figure.

 

Principal media has grown even as marketers remain uncertain about it. A separate ANA study published earlier this year found that 90% of marketers who used principal media weren’t sure the recommended media was in their best interest, up from 79% the prior year. Many accept the practice as a trade-off for lower fees, with little visibility into actual margins and few contractual caps—a problem compounded by procurement teams, rather than media specialists, often handling these deals.

 

Marketers need to reckon with how fundamentally the agency role has changed, experts said.

 

“It continues to surprise me how the industry tolerates things which, outside of the media buying ecosystem, would be clearly anathema,” said Richard Plansky, who led the K2 investigation and now works at Kroll, a global financial and risk advisory firm. The same practices applied to an investment advisor relationship, for example, would cause public outrage, he said.

 

The positives—and room for improvement

 

The ANA’s latest survey found that 56% of member companies had updated their media agency contracts within the past year, and 70% within the past two years, figures Duggan called encouraging. Those updates, however, have not consistently addressed the most critical issues. Only 54% of contracts specifically cover rebates, and 61% address principal media, according to the ANA’s findings.

 

“It’s a little disappointing to me that more marketers have not updated their contracts to address these issues,” Duggan said.

 

The ANA has tried to make it easy, he added. The organization’s outside counsel, Reed Smith, has published contract templates specifically designed to address both issues, with the most recent update focused on principal media.

 

Many marketers lack the specialized knowledge to know what their agency agreements should cover, often relying on standard supplier contracts rather than bespoke agency agreements, said Keri Bruce, partner at Reed Smith. Even where stronger contracts exist, she said, marketers frequently fail to act on them.

 

“You have to make sure that you’re ... operationalizing your contract,” Bruce said, pointing to audit rights as an example.

 

“It’s your money, Mr. Marketer, you have to manage it,” Duggan said, recommending that companies spending $50 million or more on media appoint a dedicated internal media lead. “Media is just too fragmented, complicated, changes every minute; you can’t just bundle it into another responsibility that the CMO has.”

17495: Bored By Publicis Groupe Board.

 

Mediapsssst reported Publicis Groupe added two White people to its board, one of whom is the son of the current vice chair of the Publicis board, as well as the grandson of corporate founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet.

 

The other White holding company based in France—Havas—also features nepotism at the highest ranks.

 

Maybe it’s a cultural thang. C’est la vie.

 

Two New Members Added To Publicis Groupe Board

 

By Richard Whitman

 

At its annual meeting earlier this week Publicis Groupe shareholders voted to add two new members to the board including Microsoft Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow Jaime Teevan (as previously reported) and Benjamin Badinter. 

 

Badinter is the son of Élisabeth Badinter (current vice chair of the Publicis board) and grandson of company founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet. 

 

Badinter, 56, has spent most of his career at the holding company, which he joined in 1995. 

 

In 2002, he was appointed head of Mediavision and Jean Mineur, an agency specializing in advertising cinema. In 2011, he was appointed Chairman Médias et Régies Europe, a Publicis specialist in outdoor, print, radio, and cinema.  

 

In 2016 Badinter acquired the publisher of Tennis Magazine and created an agency dedicated to tennis, Tennis Team Agency. Badinter owns the publisher while Publicis owns the agency.  

 

On the board, he will serve as a member of the strategic, environmental and social committee. 

17494: Why Cannes Lions Is A Lyin’ Loser.

More About Advertising reported Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity dumped the Holding Company of the Year/Creative Company of the Year trophy.

 

In nixing the dubious honor, Cannes Liars finally admitted it represented a scam award—a recognition exclusively reserved for White holding companies.

 

Plus, the Omnicom acquisition of IPG—along with WPP repositioning itself as a single White operating company—further complicated the exclusivity and scammy nature.

 

Given all the holding/operating companies are becoming media-first or AI-focused enterprises, it didn’t even make sense to call it the Creative Company of the Year award.

 

Expect Cannes to recoup any losses and maintain its outrageous profits by introducing new trophy categories.

 

The only true creativity with Cannes Lions involves its craftiness for maximizing and monetizing opportunities targeting an ever-award-hungry Adland.

 

Cannes cans Creative Company of the Year

 

By Stephen Foster

 

Cannes Lions has moved to update one of the dafter elements of its annual jamboree, “retiring” (a newly-popular word in adland as elsewhere) its Creative Company of the Year award. This simply seems to have rewarded the ad holding company that made the most shortlists — that is, had the most entries — last year going to WPP.

 

Which looked rather odd because just as then CEO Mark Read and the troops were celebrating this on stage it must have been evident to even the most rosé-soaked client that the wheels were coming off the British-owned holding company in all directions.

 

With Omnicom buying IPG the number of contenders has reduced anyway (Publicis, which ditched Cannes entries entirely one year to save a reported €50m) doesn’t seem to take the event as seriously as its US and UK rivals.

 

In line with this are changes to Network of the Year, presumably now a replacement for Creative Company of the Year. This too has had its issues, Omnicom’s DDB winning last year even though it had to withdraw three ads for cheating. DDB has now joined the list of retirees — folded into TBWA — suggesting the connection between supposed creative excellence and commercial performance isn’t as direct as many (including the Cannes organisers) suggest.

 

Cannes Lions says: “By introducing a cap on shortlist contribution, reinforcing the importance of quality over quantity through adjusted weighting, and ensuring consistent judging practices, our aim is to provide a refreshed benchmark that reflects today’s creative landscape — grounded in credibility, integrity and excellence.”

 

That would be nice.

17493: Staying Abreast Of Pharmaceutical Advertising.

 

Big Pharma conference season prompts promotional pap like the animated bus stop signage depicted above.

 

Questionable media placement aside, AstraZeneca positioning itself as Pioneers in Breast sounds… odd.

 

The dubious title feels more suitable for hyping a strip club or pornography website.

 

Plus, the animated breast image is arguably NSFW—making OOH a controversial tactic choice.

 

It all underscores an Adland reality: pharmaceutical advertising sucks. Or suckles, in this case.

17492: More On Byron Allen & CBS Breakthrough Deal.

 

Deadline reported on the deal hatched by Byron Allen and CBS, which the network views as “a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost prohibitive to continue.”

 

In short, Allen orchestrated an unprecedented arrangement designed to profit all parties.

 

But don’t bet on Mickey D’s and General Motors appearing as Comics Unleashed advertisers.

 

CBS Defends Byron Allen Time Buy, Discloses Financials On ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s Annual Loss & ‘Comics Unleashed’s Profit

 

By Nellie Andreeva

 

Amid continuing speculation about political motivation behind CBS’ decision to cancel The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and a soft ratings start for its successor, Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed, the network issued a statement Thursday. In it, CBS for the first time revealed the balance sheet for The Late Show, claiming that it lost about $40 million a year, a number that had been circulated but not officially confirmed until now.

 

The network also disclosed that Allen is paying $15 million a year as a “time buy,” meaning that he is leasing the 11:30 PM hour from CBS and selling its ad inventory himself in search of profit. That is a flat fee for the network not contingent on the show’s performance (which would impact Allen’s ad rates).

 

Comics Unleashed launched on May 22, the night after Colbert signed off from The Late Show. On a night that has been dark in late-night for a couple of years, Comics Unleashed averaged 878,000 total viewers over the two half-hours, according to Nielsen Live+Same Day Panel+Big Data, a fraction of the 6.74 million viewers the Colbert finale drew the night before. Comics Unleashed’s debut stacks better against The Late Show’s L+SD season average prior to the finale, 2.14 million.

 

“We’re proud to partner with Byron Allen on a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost prohibitive to continue,” CBS said in its statement. “With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit — a $55 million swing.”

 

The Late Show was produced by CBS Studios, so the company shouldered 100% of the production cost amid an ad revenue declines across all entertainment programming on linear, with late-night’s drop among the steepest, said to be 65% over the past 6 years.

 

CBS and its parent Paramount Skydance have been widely criticized over the decision to cancel Colbert, who had been one of the most outspoken critics of President Donald Trump. The network’s decision to outright axe the show on the eve of Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global instead of looking for ways to improve its financials by cost-saving measures further fueled the backlash.

 

The person who launched The Late Show, Colbert’s predecessor David Letterman, has been particularly vocal on the issue.

 

“[Colbert] was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?’ I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying,” Letterman told The New York Times recently. “Let me just add one other thing. They’re lying weasels.”