The Campaign Podcast

Does Publicis' PepsiCo coup mean pitching is changing?

The Campaign Podcast

Show Notes

Over the last two weeks, adland has seen some major changes for two of the biggest global media accounts: PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.

In a shock move, Publicis Groupe took PepsiCo’s global media account from longtime incumbent Omnicom without a pitch, and pulled out of the contest for Coca-Cola’s international media, tech and data account in a two way pitch against WPP. As a result of Publicis taking rival Pepsico’s global account, Coke’s North America media account is now set to review with Omnicom and Dentsu understood to be in the running, and WPP not competing.

In this episode, Campaign's tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley is joined by editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier and UK editor Maisie McCabe to look into how Publicis managed to swipe PepsiCo's business without any pitch and what it means for purpose and value of the pitch process.

Further reading: Omnicom ‘proud’ of PepsiCo media work as it reels from global loss and stock drops 5% WPP closing in on Coca-Cola’s international media, data and tech account Pepsi-Publicis coup will change how other brands and agency groups behave

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