Advertising Age published the latest Cola Wars dispatches, reporting Omnicom semi-rebounded from its PepsiCo global media loss by winning Coca-Cola North America media duties.
The Coke North America media business had been serviced by Publicis Groupe, who relinquished the assignment after nabbing the PepsiCo global media business from Omnicom sans a review. Publicis Groupe won the Coke North America media account in 2025, pulling it from WPP, who retains Coca-Cola global media and global creative duties. Oh, and Omnicom faced off against Dentsu to seize Coke’s North America media. Expect Omnicom to soon seek grabbing additional Coke business from WPP too.
The winding spectacle underscores how major brand business shifts between a limited number of holding companies. It’s a global game of musical chairs played with no more than four chairs—and rickety ones to boot.
In the end, workers at White advertising agencies and White media firms within holding companies are not only victims of restructurings, redundancies, and RIFs—they are also casualties of Cola Wars.
Omnicom wins Coca-Cola’s North America media account
By Ewan Larkin and Brian Bonilla
Coca-Cola Co. has awarded Omnicom its North America media account following a review in which the holding company went head-to-head with Dentsu, people familiar with the matter told Ad Age and Coke soon confirmed. The decision means Coke and rival PepsiCo have effectively swapped media agencies in an all-important market.
In hiring Omnicom, Coke gains an agency intimately familiar with the beverage business. Omnicom had worked on PepsiCo’s media for three decades until September, when PepsiCo announced it was moving global media to Publicis Groupe. Omnicom will continue to support creative, PR and sports marketing, PepsiCo stated at the time. That means the world’s largest agency company will hold significant portions of business for the fiercely competitive beverage rivals in the crucial U.S. market.
Coke didn’t immediately provide comment, then issued a statement confirming the news. Omnicom referred inquiries to Coke.
In its statement, Coca-Cola shared that choosing Omnicom fits its commitment to align specialized capabilities with market-specific opportunities. “By bringing media, data, CRM, loyalty and creators together within one connected ecosystem, the North America operating unit can move beyond channel-based execution toward more integrated consumer experiences,” the company stated.
Following PepsiCo’s decision to hire Publicis, Coke moved swiftly to review its North America media account, where Publicis was the incumbent, Ad Age first reported in September. WPP, Coke’s global incumbent, opted not to participate in the pitch, setting up a shootout between Omnicom and Dentsu, the latter of which works with Coke in Japan and Korea.
WPP Open X will continue to serve as Coca-Cola’s global creative partner, the beverage giant announced.
WPP also retained Coke’s global media, data and technology business, as Ad Age previously reported, following a separate review that originally also included Publicis. “We’re proud to build on our partnership with The Coca-Cola Company and the trust they’ve placed in us to help drive their next chapter of growth,” Cindy Rose, WPP’s CEO, said in a statement.
Coca-Cola ranked as the 24th-largest U.S. advertiser in Ad Age Brand Report 2026, with estimated U.S. advertising costs of $2.2 billion in 2025, up from $2 billion a year earlier.
The new structure will be implemented in phases starting Dec. 1, Coke announced.
“We began this process with a clear objective: ensure we have the right partners, capabilities and operating model to continue to lead in a rapidly changing marketing landscape,” Manolo Arroyo, executive VP and chief marketing and customer commercial officer at Coca-Cola, said in the statement. “The outcome reinforces our confidence in the strength of our global marketing ecosystem and positions us to accelerate growth through deeper consumer understanding, greater agility and the responsible application of emerging technologies.”
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