In February, Coca-Cola’s chief marketing officer Manuel Arroyo appeared at WPP CEO Cindy Rose’s strategy update, publicly backing the holding company’s vision. It was a valuable endorsement from WPP’s single biggest client.
But less than four months later, Coca-Cola has kicked off a review of its global media, tech and data business. WPP has been Coca-Cola’s global network partner since 2021, when it beat Publicis in a year-long pitch. The total relationship was worth an estimated $4 billion to WPP.
Cracks in the model
In March 2025, Coca-Cola quietly moved the $700 million North American media portion of the business from WPP to Publicis. It was the first sign of cracks in a model specifically designed to break down silos.
Now, Coke has confirmed that, other than Publicis-handled North America and Dentsu-handled Japan and Korea, the rest of its media account is up for grabs. WPP and Publicis are in a two-horse race for what remains.
What the review is really about
A Coca-Cola spokesperson said: “The Coca-Cola Company is evolving 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 review, handled by MediaSense, coincides with a contract renewal cycle. Global creative and PR are out of scope and will remain with WPP Open X.
High stakes for WPP
For WPP, the stakes are high. Since Rose took the helm, she has been focused on client retention after a series of major losses under former chief executive Mark Read, including global media for Mars, PayPal, Paramount and Pfizer.
Rose spent her first weeks with WPP’s top 50 clients to understand what the group was getting wrong, promising that WPP would be “completely client-obsessed.”
Two competing approaches
As Jay Pattisall, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, points out, this will be a critical vote of confidence for two competing approaches to data connectivity: pitting Publicis’ ID-based approach against WPP’s federated, third-party one.
Publicis will tout its data, ID-based approach to identity and AI infrastructure, strengthened by the recent $2.2 billion LiveRamp acquisition. It’s the pitch that recently won the $700 million Microsoft media business from Dentsu.
WPP, meanwhile, has been on a winning streak, having won Mastercard, Wendy’s, Reckitt, Estée Lauder, JLR and others.
What’s next
Both sides are preparing for the review process to begin in July, with a decision expected in the fall. For WPP, retaining the global media crown would be a major validation of Rose’s turnaround plan. For Publicis, winning would cement its position as the holding company best equipped for the age of agentic AI.
As Coke’s reference to “agentic tools” makes clear, this is more than a standard media review. It’s a battle over who will help define the future of marketing itself.
