MultiCultClassics

17520: On Registration-Only Exclusivity At Cannes.

2026-06-27T00:29:36.785-05:00

Advertising Age reported on the increased registration-only events at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which especially frustrated newer attendees denied access beyond velvet ropes.

Um, Cannes has always embraced exclusivity—marginalizing people based on status at White advertising agencies, country of origin, gender, sexual identity, race and ethnicity, etc.

Hell, even the Omnicom Inclusion Breakfast was an exclusive affair.

As for registration-only issues, don’t forget the initiatives to ban registered sex offenders.

Registration-only events make Cannes feel less democratic and overly programmed

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

To thrive at Cannes this year, you needed two things: a fan and your name on countless registration lists. It was the hottest Cannes in memory and also perhaps the most exclusive one.

While the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has seen a steady rise in roped-off events, this year it seemed to reach a tipping point. The beach and harbor were again dominated by activations that required registration, including Stagwell’s Sport Beach, Amazon Port, Spotify Beach and others. This year, there was a noticeable encroachment inland, with multiple cafes overtaken by vendors and agencies, which used them to conduct invite-only programming or hold client meetings, effectively shutting them off from average festival-goers.

One big change from last year: Caffe Roma, a normally welcoming spot in the shadow of the Palais, was overtaken by Creative Artists Agency, where people guarding the entrance turned away anyone not on the list.

“People without a pay-to-play space are having to get real inventive about where to eat and meet this year, given the sprawling nature of branded spaces—they’ve exploded,” said Oliver McAteer, head of development and partner at Mischief @ No Fixed Address. “It feels like no inch of Cannes has been left untouched. Quiet restaurants you could sneak away to and take a meeting or grab a rare bite are now an AI firm you’ve never heard of. AI is likely the reason I am sunburned.”

The situation added more fire to the long-running debate over whether Cannes Lions has lost its appeal as a community gathering for creatives of all stripes, especially those without industry connections.

Take it from Fernando Machado, the chief brand officer of Chipotle, who has been coming to Cannes since he was a rising marketer at Unilever. “It was just the Palais,” he said in an interview this week, referring to the festival’s traditional home venue. “I would buy two cereal bars, two Gatorades” and “be there for the day.” He referred to this year’s festival as being filled with RSVP lists and Cannes “bouncers.”

“It makes it less democratic, right?” Machado said. “I’ve been in the industry for long now, and I know a lot of people, so I think it’s easy for me to get in.” But Fernando from 15 years ago would likely be shut out, he added.

Leeann Leahy, CEO of The Via Agency, shared a similar perspective. “It feels more like a ‘No, you can’t’ festival with all of its closed doors and over-programmed venues. And I have always loved the discovery of this festival,” Leahy said, noting that it took her “an hour to find a cafe that wasn’t taken over by some brand somewhere.”

Frances Webster, CEO of Walrus, said she had to take a breakfast meeting at the Gutter Bar, which is typically popular for late-night drinks, because so many Cannes restaurants were rented out this year.

WPP’s VML took over Beryte, a Lebanese restaurant, while tech brand InMobi took over another eatery to promote Glance, an intelligent shopping agent.

There was also some disgruntlement about the Carlton Hotel, which often serves as a watering hole for delegates beginning at night and extending into the early hours of the morning. Attendees reported being turned away by security unless they were meeting with somebody already inside, and voiced complaints about the hotel charging $100 per person to sit at a table. Tom Morrissy, chief growth officer of independent media agency Noble People, said such tactics hurt “the history and spirit of the festival.”

How the scorching heat affected Cannes

Of course, with scorching temperatures, drinking late into the night was not always the best idea. A historic heat wave gripped France for most of the week. The most common sight on the Croisette: People draped in event lanyards and wristbands holding fans. Nicola Mendelsohn, head of Meta’s global business group, summed it up quite nicely at a panel on WPP’s rooftop near the end of the week, suggesting her Oura ring “thinks I’m dead.”

The heatwave “made every indoor session a refuge and outdoor activations a genuine endurance test,” Lindsay Slaby, founder of marketing consultancy Sunday Dinner, wrote in her Cannes recap for clients. She noted that it “probably contributed to the intimacy premium: small dinners, air-conditioned villas, the sessions with 21 people at the art hotel beat everything happening at Croisette scale.”

She also observed that the “old Cannes energy was genuinely porous,” referring to past festivals of “creative directors running into clients at the Gutter Bar at 2 a.m.,” and “serendipitous collisions that turned into briefs.”

The corporate sprawl beyond the Palais is a physical manifestation of how Cannes continues to evolve into a business conference as much as it is a creativity festival. Ad tech players, who began descending on Cannes years ago, are now joined by a growing number of consultancies. Boston Consulting Group upped its Cannes presence starting about four years ago and this year ran its BCG House along the Croisette, with programming on topics such as organizational transformation and the path from CMO to CEO.

“Marketing is one of our biggest topics for us commercially,” said Jessica Apotheker, BCG’s CMO, managing director and senior partner. “It’s just a great opportunity to engage with marketing leaders. We will share some more thought leadership, connect with the right people, and also connect with the technical system.”

Cannes Lions itself is leaning into executive involvement. For the second year in a row, it hosted a Global CEO Forum. This year, the closed-door session at the Carlton ran on the festival’s opening day and was “strictly limited to 50 personally invited global CEOs,” according to its website, with McKinsey listed as a “lead insight partner.”

Still, there does appear to be a concerted effort to preserve the festival’s original creative spirit. Ciaran McCarthy, VP of brand and global advertising at Microsoft, told Ad Age on Monday that his whole team was in the South of France this week, spending lots of time walking the work and attending award shows.

“I hope others are doing the same,” McCarthy said. “It’d be a shame to come here and not.”

17519: On WPP Priorities At Cannes And Beyond.

2026-06-26T00:18:10.428-05:00

Advertising Age reported how WPP CEO Cindy Rose is spending her time at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, prioritizing huddling with clients and investors over public events.

This semi-mirrors Rose’s global agenda; that is, she’s primarily focused on clients and shareholders versus employees—a worldwide community Wikipedia currently records as 100,000 humans. Losing clients and shareholders poses a big problem. Losing employees, not so much.

Besides, the single White operating company won’t threepeat as Holding Company of the Year/Creative Company of the Year—but only because the dubious award was nixed versus WPP is now recognized as a death-spiraling flaming dumpster.

Cindy Rose prioritizes clients and investors over public events during her first Cannes as WPP CEO

By Ewan Larkin and E.J. Schultz

Few executives have walked into Cannes Lions this year with quite as much baggage as Cindy Rose. Though the WPP CEO has helped orchestrate some momentum in the new business arena in her first nine months, she still helms a company working through a major restructuring, a string of client losses and a fall to fourth-ranked agency company.

Rose made her debut at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity as WPP’s CEO without much fanfare, opting for few public speaking appearances and spending more time tucked away meeting clients and investors while explaining her turnaround plan.

Perhaps her most important meeting was with Manuel Arroyo, the Coca-Cola Co. executive VP and global chief marketing officer, who also met with Arthur Sadoun, Publicis Groupe’s chairman and CEO, during the festival, according to a person familiar with the matter.

WPP is battling Publicis for the beverage giant’s media, data and technology business in most global markets outside of the U.S. The review, which is in its early stages, marks a high-stakes moment for Rose, as Coke incumbent WPP seeks to ward off further encroachment by Publicis, which took the North America media business from WPP in early 2025.

Arroyo did not tip his hand on which agency might have the advantage.

“We have a lot of confidence today in WPP,” he said in an interview at Cannes. “We also are seeing reasons why we should have a lot of confidence in Publicis based on the work in the U.S.” He credited Rose for bringing “a lot of new and great thinking” and “an increased focus on data, technology and AI.”

Coke’s marketing priorities moving forward include more emphasis on retail media and influencer marketing, he said.

Along with putting on an investor relations event atop the Hôtel Martinez, WPP’s home base for the week, Rose also hosted more than 30 consultants and intermediaries at a private terrace gathering. And she interviewed Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström at WPP’s Stream event, Ad Age confirmed with WPP.

Her focus on clients—more than 50 of whom she met with privately—prompted her to opt out of a speech she had been scheduled to give at the Palais. Rose’s agenda also included a Thursday night client dinner.

A WPP spokesperson said Rose was not available for an interview during the festival.

On the heels of WPP announcing an agentic partnership with Amazon Web Services, Rose made a public appearance for a luncheon at Amazon Port, where she discussed a set of “trust principles” she released at the start of the festival. Asked about that timing on the panel, Rose said that “consumer trust in brands is at an all-time low, and trust in agencies isn’t much better,” so it felt like the right time to “put a stake in the ground” on how WPP operates.

One of WPP’s principles is about clients owning and controlling their data, a point Rose emphasized during her time in Cannes with AWS. “Your data and your insights as a brand is your biggest source of asymmetric competitive advantage, and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why CMOs would share that with anyone,” she said.

Rose later spoke about WPP’s marketing operating system, WPP Open, and said it is designed to give clients access to data insights and new technology without surrendering control. Her remarks come as research firms have warned that marketers risk becoming overly dependent on agency-owned AI platforms.

“It’s amazing to me how many of my CMO clients are willing to sign up to data solutions that lock them in,” Rose said. She added: “I want my clients to stay with me because we’re delivering superior growth, not because we’ve created some structural friction.”

17518: On WPP Media Global Ranking & Worldwide Tanking.

2026-06-25T00:18:48.169-05:00

Advertising Age reported WPP Media maintained its lead global ranking; however, the trade publication foresees the White media firm losing its top position as Adland continues to dramatically churn.

Ironically, WPP Media could benefit from PR, promotion, and advertising—disciplines diminished in the WPP worldwide flaming dumpster—to hype its fuzzy success, suspect capabilities, and questionable innovations.

WPP Media clings to the lead in Comvergence’s global ranking, but likely not for long

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

WPP Media maintained its position as the top agency group worldwide in global media billings last year, but it is slipping from the leaderboard, according to Comvergence’s 2025 Global Billings and Market Share Report.

The holding company led the pack with 13% market share and $63.9 billion in 2025 global media billings, but that’s down from the 14.2% share it captured in 2024. Publicis Media is not far behind, posting the highest growth rate among the holding companies, with a 12.8% rise to $62.4 billion in global billings last year, per the report.

Omnicom Media Group ranked third with $48.5 billion in global media billings last year, which represented a 5.5% increase from 2024. However, Comvergence flagged that the report did not combine the media billings of the newly merged Omnicom Media Group and Interpublic Group of Cos., as the deal closed in late November. A combined Omnicom Media Group would have had $75.6 billion in global billings, according to the report, landing it well ahead of WPP Media.

Among agency networks, Omnicom’s OMD led with $26.9 billion in total media billings, up 1.7% from 2024. WPP’s EssenceMediacom came in second place with $23.3 billion, a 3.9% decline in global billings from 2024, while its Mindshare ranked third with a decrease of 5.5% to $20.5 billion in total 2025 billings.

Publicis Media’s Zenith and Starcom rounded out the top five agency networks, per the report, posting the highest growth rates among the rivals, at 11.4% to $17.2 billion and 9.5% to $17.18 billion in total billings, respectively.

The report represents 55% of global media spend, which Comvergence estimated to be at $478 billion across 49 markets, up 4.6% from $457 billion in 2024. It also covered 107 independent media agencies, which collectively account for 12% of global market share, according to the report, representing $32 billion in total 2025 billings. Horizon Media US was the largest independent agency worldwide with $7.4 billion in 2025 billings, according to Comvergence.

17517: On The Challenges For Gaining Entry To Cannes.

2026-06-24T00:27:15.804-05:00

Advertising Age reported entries dropped over 25% for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

There’s no data to indicate how the value of creativity has globally dropped in Adland—but the figure probably far exceeds 25%.

Of course, Ad Age’s examination doesn’t highlight the exclusivity of Cannes, whereby a limited community of privileged advertising agencies participate in a closed popularity contest.

A stricter submission process likely had 0% impact on Cannes cliquishness.

However, the revised requirements surely adversely affected the underrepresentation of non-White advertising agencies—but don’t expect Cannes to offer percentages and/or confirmation data.

Cannes Lions entries drop more than 25% as stricter rules kick in

By Tim Nudd

Award submissions to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity dropped more than 25% this year, a decrease due at least in part to the introduction of stricter eligibility and verification rules for entrants in the wake of last year’s cheating scandal.

The festival received 20,050 entries from 92 countries this year, down from 26,900 from 96 countries in 2025, organizers said Saturday. That is nearly a 25.5% drop.

In releasing the numbers, festival leaders pointed to a stricter entry process aimed at rebuilding confidence in the awards process. The festival introduced various measures this year to strengthen oversight and ensure submitted work can withstand greater scrutiny. The new rules include a new fact-checking process, stricter client sign-off and bans on agencies that submit fake or manipulated work.

The new process makes entering more challenging and time-consuming, according to agencies. The changes were instituted after the festival was rocked last year when multiple award-winning campaigns came under fire for AI-manipulated case studies, unverifiable campaign results and more.

“We have been working closely with our international community over the last year on what are considered and significant steps,” Simon Cook, CEO of Lions, said in a statement. “Together, we understand that these strengthened standards are not designed to restrict creativity, but to fortify it—ensuring breakthrough work gets the recognition it deserves, while preserving the integrity that makes the recognition meaningful and enduring.”

Other factors are likely at play in the decrease as well, such as entry fees becoming more prohibitive at agencies that are trying to contain costs and even having layoffs.

The festival released other entry data as well. Work submitted by brands accounted for 10% of entries this year, up from 8% last year. Independent agencies made up almost one-third of all entries, the festival said.

17516: On Trials & Tribulations Troubling Black Publishers.

2026-06-23T11:21:42.862-05:00

Adweek published content spotlighting Black publishers who stayed in the black when White brands pulled back performative DEIBA+ commitments.

The authors even connected matters to Juneteenth, noting “how the Black-owned media community has continued to be conditioned by a long-standing lack of support from advertisers.”

Call it being conditioned for crumbs—and systemic racism.

Black Publishers Knew the Ad Commitments Wouldn’t Hold. So What?

The ones who stopped waiting on promised ad dollars and built revenue they could control are the ones still standing

By Rhonesha Byng & DéVon Johnson

Since brands began to pull back their commitment to diversity ads in 2023, publishers throughout the BOMESI network have not been surprised. Many have rebuilt their business models with the knowledge that these ad dollars allocated post-2020 were not going to be there.

The lessons we learned over the last six years while operating BOMESI, which launched around Juneteenth in 2020, are very real.

The date commemorates when an enslaved population in Texas learned that they were free, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.

This delayed revelation indicates how the Black-owned media community has continued to be conditioned by a long-standing lack of support from advertisers.

Today, BOMESI has connected more than 300 Black-owned publishers with over 2,500 diverse-owned publishers to create a larger network of publishers reaching over 90 million households on a monthly basis. Currently, Black-owned media receives less than 2% of the total U.S. advertising spend, according to Nielsen; yet Black Americans represent approximately 15% of the population and consume more than 81 hours of media per week, 31.8% more than the general population.

Publishers made an expensive choice: trade advertising as the backbone of the business for subscriptions, events, licensing, and branded work on their own terms. Audience trust became the asset that mattered. Some turned down ad revenue outright because the strings attached would have meant covering their communities differently than they wanted to.

Here’s how two Black-owned publishers successfully adjusted, when advertisers stopped their commitments.

Black Girl Nerds expanded its product portfolio and partnerships

Black Girl Nerds sits at the intersection of geek culture and Black feminism, built for an audience that wanted both taken seriously. Broadnax didn’t wait for ad budgets to come back. Founder and CEO Jamie Broadnax built a Substack newsletter, launched a subscription book club through Bindery, and joined the Yahoo Creators program. The shift cost time, nothing more. It grew her Substack readership, brought brands back into her inbox, and gave the business steadier income through Yahoo Creators.

Snackable Media made an acquisition to better monetize its audience

Snackable Media started as a multicultural ad network, helping smaller, minority-owned publishers compete for big RFPs through bigger players’ programmatic reach. In April 2025, it acquired adtech company AdGrid, picking up its own wrapper, an SSP, rich media tools, and a new unit, Content Zebra, that helps publishers grow traffic and monetize it at once. Founder Justin Barton’s bet: brand attention has faded since 2020, so revenue now has to come from the audience itself—one he calls culturally relevant, high-spending, and worth unlocking through partnership, not a single ad deal.

The case for building audiences with brands can be tracked. According to a 2023 Pew Research Center study of 5,000 Black adults, 24% of respondents say they rely on Black-Owned media on a daily basis and 40% do so on a regular basis. Meanwhile, 63% of Black adults in this survey believe media coverage of Black people tends to be negative when compared to other minority groups. Additionally, 57% of respondents say they don’t get the full spectrum of news about Black communities.

Because brands are using the “general market” to reach their audience, they are essentially paying for something the audience has already decided is not relevant to them; therefore, brands are at a disadvantage when it comes to advertising to this group through general market channels.

The DEI retreat makes the argument all even more clear. Since 2020, equitable advertising expenditures have served as a means of expressing values through inclusion as a separate line item for brands that include or exclude depending on optics. A Government Accountability Office report revealed that over the last 10 years, federal acquisitions of advertising accounted for $14.9 billion in total spent, but just 14% of that amount (which includes all businesses owned by minorities, women, and disadvantaged individuals) actually reached those businesses that the categorization was intended to serve.

Media owned by people of color was included in the 14% total, but not at the top. Publishers who were aware of that math before it was a “talking point” are the type of businesses to work with regardless of where the DEI falls on the public policy agenda.

17515: New Standard, Old Pitch Practices—Buyer Agent Buyers Beware.

2026-06-22T01:37:16.757-05:00

MediaPost reported WPP Media is enacting IRL the theme emphasized in Publicis Groupe’s paradoxical propaganda.

That is, the White media firm unveiled a prototype for a new “buyer agents” standard for media-buying services.

The launch and ballyhoo pose questions, raise suspicions, and smell fishy—underscoring the lack of trust and transparency tainting the media field.

For starters, clients are not early adopters, typically waiting to see measurable proof of success before buying into innovations. So, it’s a safe bet WPP Media pitched with underhanded overpromising.

If WPP Media pushed outcomes-based payment schemes for the prototype, achievement in terms of revenue generation will likely integrate exaggerations and outright lies.

Finally, despite anything WPP Media might claim, utilizing a prototype means even executives at the White media firm are tinkering via trial and error, making things up while they plod ahead. As holding company wonks are wont to admit—at least internally—the plane is being built in flight.

In short, WPP Media appears to be introducing a new standard for bullshit.

WPP Media Unveils Prototype For New ‘Buyer Agent’ Standard

By Joe Mandese

An agentic bragging rights war appears to be heating up heading into the ad industry’s annual gathering in Cannes next week, with today’s news that WPP Media is developing a new industry standard for media-buying — specifically, for “buyer agents” purchasing video advertising inventory.

The first-mover announcement is consistent with big historical moves by WPP Media and its predecessor organization, GroupM, to move the industry forward by developing media research and/or technical standards for buying media — from Nielsen ratings to CTV — in order to prevent industry inertia around key media technology developments.

WPP this morning revealed it already is working with key media suppliers and industry standards bodies to “define how TV and video buyer and seller agents interact safely, transparently and at scale.”

WPP disclosed that the new agentic standards initiative includes Comcast Advertising and its FreeWheel ad tech unit, Disney Advertising, Fox, NBC Universal, Netflix and Paramount, as well as the IAB Tech Lab and Prebid.org, which are helping to “define how the WPP Buyer Agent and media owner Seller Agents communicate, validate, support approved media transaction workflows, and escalate decisions.”

“Two decades ago, the move to programmatic marked a fundamental change in how media was bought and sold. We expect agentic media to have an even bigger impact on our industry in the months and years ahead,” WPP Media CEO Brian Lesser said in a statement announcing the standards initiative, adding, “The companies that lead this next era will be the ones that combine intelligence, interoperability, and governance to define how media decisions are made. That’s what we are building with our partners: a trusted buyer-agent strategy designed to operate in our clients’ interests, maximize the value of their media investments, deepen consumer relationships, and translate intelligence into growth.”

IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur also disclosed that the initiative is benchmarking the new media buyer agent protocol on the tech lab’s AAMP (Agentic Ad Management Protocols) framework.

WPP said “initial testing” of the new media buyer agent has already begun with its supply-chain partners with a “goal of moving from alpha and beta testing to a model capable of supporting large-scale TV and video investment over the next 6–9 months” and plans to share its findings — as well as reference workflows, tech learning, and a formal proposed industry standard — in early 2027.

But the news is bound to generate even more agentic buzz at next week’s Cannes Lions festival, following a cheeky video released Tuesday by Publicis, as well as a white paper issued by influential advertising management consultant 3C Ventures late last week that cautions advertisers about using proprietary holdco agentic advertising systems.

And also this morning, Horizon Media announced a it has added its own proprietary “buying agents” to its HorizonOS Blu platform.

17514: Breakfast Is Served—And Underserved.

2026-06-21T20:57:29.677-05:00

The Omnicom Inclusion Breakfast is scheduled to be served on June 24, 2026, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

A social media post hyping the event stars the White holding company’s Global Chief Inclusion and Impact Officer delivering stereotypical perspectives on inclusion including, “I believe that difference is a superpower.” Okay, but DEIBA+ in Adland has been rendered powerless by Kryptonite in the form of systemic racism.

Wonder if the breakfast menu will feature Pearl Milling Company pancakes, Cream of Wheat, and Post Honey Bunches of Oats.

17513: On Publicis Groupe Parodying And/Or Promoting Pitch Practices.

2026-06-20T11:34:26.865-05:00

Advertising Age published paradoxical propaganda from Publicis Groupe, allowing the White holding company to pitch itself by calling out how White holding companies, White advertising agencies, and White media firms pitch themselves to win pitches.

Publicis Groupe took the hypocritical hype a step further via an AI-generated video, overtly selling its suspect AI capabilities.

Not mentioned in the faux criticism of pitch practices:

1. The exclusivity—ie, White supremacy—holding companies exploit for dominating access to global accounts.

2. Prime Redlining maneuvers.

Is the Publicis Groupe exposition a harsh critique or a helpful instructional guide?

Publicis calls out AI hype and other bad pitch practices as the industry heads to Cannes

By Brian Bonilla

Publicis Groupe, one of advertising’s most vocal proponents of AI-driven transformation, is heading into the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with a different message this year: stop overpromising.

Its new satirical AI-generated video pokes fun at exaggerated artificial intelligence claims, free creative work and other questionable pitch practices, while also announcing that Publicis will host what Arthur Sadoun, its chairman and CEO, described as the holding company’s largest-ever gathering of clients and investors at the festival.

Publicis has spent years positioning itself at the forefront of the ad industry’s AI conversation through investments in data and AI-powered platforms, often using Cannes as a stage to promote new technology initiatives. This year, however, the industry’s third-largest player is using the festival to warn against what it sees as growing issues with how AI is being promoted as an efficiency play rather than one that drives business impact, causing a “race to the bottom,” Sadoun said.

“We like to use Cannes as a platform for industry transformation,” Sadoun said. “This year, we want to call out what we think is a very important topic, which is the current compound effect of overpromising on AI, and unsustainable commercial practices in particular in pitches.” He added that the trend is “currently leading to massive job cuts in our industry” as agencies claim “we can do more with AI and, by the way, we can be cheaper.”

The video, created by Le Truc, features reenactments of what Publicis executives say are real pitch stories they have heard over the past few years. Situations include agency executives promising clients they can do creative work for free, promising clients a $5 million bonus if they use an agency’s AI platform, cutting staff significantly, or even an instance where a client was promised a chance to go shopping with their favorite fashion designer in Milan if the agency won the client’s business.

While stories like this have existed for a long time in the industry, Sadoun said the promise of AI solutions to clients has increased these bad practices. “It is a big problem and, as importantly, this is not what clients want,” Sadoun added. “That’s the point we want to make. Clients are not expecting us … to put fewer people on their accounts. They are expecting us to use our talent and AI to deliver real business results.”

The film was designed to make a serious point through humor, said Carla Serrano, chief strategy officer at Publicis Groupe.

“We’re making a statement about how we’ve all gone too far and should, at this moment, really temper ourselves a little bit—especially in the pitch and contractual rooms,” she said. The current environment is one in which agencies are engaged in “AI pitch-maxing,” she added, arguing that “it’s time to get off the hype cycle.”

Publicis itself has long faced accusations from people in the industry that it wins business through aggressive commercial terms and by offering creative work for free to win media pitches. Asked directly about such criticism, Sadoun rejected the notion that the company’s growth has come at the expense of its business model.

“The industry has been saying that we are giving things for free since we became No. 1 in new business in 2017,” Sadoun said. “Since then, we have doubled our EBITDA, increased our revenue by 65%, hired 40,000 people.” He added: “Are we aggressive in what we do in commercial affairs? Of course we are—and everyone else is. But we are trying, as best as we can, to always come up with offers that, first of all, really deliver for clients.”

Sadoun pointed to Publicis’ creative business as evidence that the company is not giving away work to win accounts.

“We are the only ones growing in creativity, publicly. We are growing 5% when the entire industry is declining,” he said. “To anyone who says that we give creative for free, our answer is simple: we are growing 5% when the rest of the market is declining.”

Publicis has even changed its pitch strategy in the past 18 months, Sadoun said, with a focus on convincing clients to do a project and test out AI tools rather than launching formal reviews.

“It would be better if it were all about, ‘Let’s solve a business problem right now. Give us six weeks to do it and prove to you how we can help you drive the growth and success that you’re looking for,’” Serrano said.

At Cannes, Publicis is set to showcase what its executives said are tangible business outcomes from AI-enabled transformation work. The company plans to hold more than 60 closed-door client sessions across five industry verticals. Last Year, Publicis hosted over 40 sessions.

This will include a large session featuring conversations about business transformation with Gülen Bengi, global chief marketing officer of Mars, and Shakir Moin, president of marketing for North America at The Coca-Cola Company, which were two of the biggest accounts Publicis won last year. It will bring together 350 clients and 70 investors under Chatham House rules.

“We want to show not only the ups but also the downs, because clients are ready to hear about the downs and, of course, the outcomes that we have delivered through our relationship,” Sadoun said.

The gathering marks the first time Publicis has assembled a client-and-investor audience of that scale at Cannes, he said.

“We are doing it in a way where we want this to be a real conversation and actually exactly the opposite of prospecting,” Sadoun said. “We have nothing to sell. Actually, we’re going to try to undersell. We’re going to try to touch on the difficulties of what needs to be put in place to achieve the kind of business results that our clients are looking for.”

17512: On Juneteenth In Adland 2026.

2026-06-19T12:43:19.363-05:00

In Adland 2026, Juneteenth has been impacted by restructurings, redundancies, and RIFs—like White holding companies and White advertising agencies throughout the global industry.

The anti-DEIBA+ vibe in Adland means Juneteenth further loses its performative priority, plummeting far below organizational rejiggering, shareholder appeasing, and AI capabilities overhyping.

Juneteenth is seemingly deemed redundant to celebratory events such as Black History Month and MLK Day—both of which are also ignored and/or viewed with indifference.

In recent years, White holding companies and White advertising agencies have quietly diminished ERGs, downsized DEIBA+ teams, and dismissed Chief Diversity Officers. So, delegating diversity duties for Juneteenth is disregarded.

Will Adland ever experience freedom from systemic racism?

17511: How To Be Remembered At Cannes—The True Version.

2026-06-18T22:35:02.262-05:00

Advertising Age published fluff content titled, “How to be the person people remember at Cannes, according to 10 festival veterans”—featuring self-absorbed bullshit from forgettable nobodies.

Not mentioned among the contrived tips:

• Sexually assault someone.

• Admit your Lion-winning entry is scam.

• Woo potential clients with lavish gifts, expensive booze, and brazen sex acts.

• If you’re a person of color seeking to be remembered at Cannes, you must perform as an A-list entertainer.

How to be the person people remember at Cannes, according to 10 festival veterans

By Ad Age Staff

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a rush of introductions, pitches and personalities—it can be extremely difficult to make a lasting impression. To make the most of your time among the industry’s top players, brushing up on your opener, among other steps, can make a big difference.

Ad Age asked 10 Cannes veterans about successful tactics for rising above the noise. See their tips and the reasoning behind them below.

Finesse up your opener

Amy Worley, global chief connections officer, VML

Cannes is undeniably packed with more brands, tech giants and business leaders than ever, but it’s still the Festival of Creativity. So instead of defaulting to “What do you do?” try asking, “What have you seen that’s inspired you this week?” I’ve found it gets past the small talk and into the good stuff much faster. And who doesn’t love to talk about what they love?

Rita Ferro, president, global advertising, Disney

One of the most memorable first impressions I’ve seen at Cannes came from someone who simply had the confidence to stop, introduce themselves, and ask a thoughtful question. You meet an extraordinary number of people in a single week, and the ones who stand out aren’t the loudest—they’re the ones who are genuinely curious, prepared, and intentional about creating a real moment of connection.

I always appreciate when first-timers, students or young professionals take that initiative. It signals hunger, humility, and an understanding that Cannes is ultimately about people.

Lead with your point of view over your title

Luis Miguel Messianu, founder, president and chief creative officer, MEL

The people who make the strongest impression at Cannes are rarely the ones trying the hardest to impress. The memorable ones are curious, generous and present.

I remember people who didn’t begin with a pitch, a title or a credential. They began with a point of view. They had seen something, felt something, questioned something. They asked smart questions about the work, about culture, about where the industry was going. That stands out because Cannes can be noisy, and real curiosity cuts through the noise.

The best first impression is not “look who I am.” It is “let’s have a conversation worth remembering.”

Leandro Barreto, global chief marketing officer for Unilever and Beauty and Wellbeing

The people who make the strongest impression are the ones who are precise about what they stand for but also approach Cannes with a real sense of curiosity. They don’t try to cover everything; they engage thoughtfully and land a perspective clearly. In a week that’s full of ideas, that kind of clarity cuts through.

I’ve always found it stands out when someone grounds the conversation in real work and real examples and then builds from there. But equally, the people you remember are the ones who are open to going beyond their usual circle—connecting with different brands, perspectives and parts of the ecosystem you wouldn’t normally engage with day to day.

Do the thing you said you’d do

Joe Paluska, chief marketing officer, Commonwealth Fusion Systems

The most memorable first impression I’ve ever seen at Cannes came from Anderson .Paak. After speaking at Amazon Port about authenticity, culture and co-creation, he came right up to the front of the stage. I mentioned that my son was studying hip-hop and was about to turn 21, and Anderson immediately shot him a personal happy birthday video. That moment said everything.

Cannes is full of people talking about authenticity, but Anderson practiced it in real time. He didn’t need to do it. There was no “brand benefit.” He just made a human gesture that my son will never forget. At Cannes, the people who stand out are not always the loudest or most polished. They are the ones who make a huge global stage feel personal. Anderson turned a celebrity encounter into a father-son memory, and that is the kind of impression no business card can compete with.

Crystal Foote, founder and head of partnerships, Digital Culture Group

One of the most memorable first impressions I experienced at Cannes came from the wife of a marketer attending the festival. She was curious about what I did and immediately started thinking about who I should meet. After learning more about Digital Culture Group and the work we were doing, she connected me directly to her husband. What stood out was how naturally she made introductions and created connections in the moment. Cannes moves fast, and some of the best opportunities come from people who are proactive, engaged and genuinely interested in helping others expand their network.

Mona Munayyer Gonzalez, president, Pereira O’Dell

After speaking on the Cannes Creator stage last year, I had several people approach me who mentioned that something I mentioned in my speaker bio—my specific career path, my Palestinian roots—spoke to them and made them want to stop by and say hi. It was incredibly thoughtful and purposeful, which felt deeply refreshing amidst a sea of sales pitches and superficial hellos.

Talk to people standing in line with you

Alejandra Haro, regional leader, Circulo Creativo USA

Absolutely. I once met a person who is now a speaker at the festival, and it happened in the most unplanned, unhurried way. We simply couldn’t get into the same venue, ended up waiting together, and that was it. To me, that’s what a truly memorable first impression looks like: not a polished elevator pitch, but a real human moment. The kind that makes you think I’d love to work with this person someday. So don’t be afraid to talk to strangers; everyone is there to connect.

Kimberly Wilson, board advisor, Fullscale Holdings

The people who stand out most at Cannes are usually quietly moving through the experience. I’ve always been drawn to individuals who lead with authenticity versus transaction.

I remember meeting the chief revenue officer of a pretty big agency who skipped a networking event entirely and instead opted to join me for an impromptu lunch to discuss how culture, creativity and consumer behavior were shifting in real time. It immediately changed the energy of the interaction because it felt genuine and thoughtful rather than transactional.

People remember how you made them feel far more than your title or company affiliation.

Make time for the work—it leaves an impression too

Jorge Plasencia, co-founder, chairman and CEO, Republica Havas

I do not have one specific “first impression” moment with a person that comes to mind. For me, the most memorable first impressions at Cannes have often come from the work itself.

Over the years, there have been so many campaigns that have impacted me and stayed with me. One example is the Lacoste work from my colleagues at Havas’ BETC, which used the brand’s iconic crocodile to draw attention to endangered species. It was simple, powerful and deeply memorable.

Those are the moments I never forget. Cannes is full of people, meetings, conversations and events, but the work is what stays with you. The best ideas make a first impression that lasts.

17510: Yum! Brands Says Yuck! To Pizza Hut.

2026-06-17T00:22:47.219-05:00

Advertising Age reported Yum! Brands is slicing Pizza Hut from the corporate portfolio.

The sale scenario posed an opportunity for WPP, which could’ve acquired the restaurant chain and created a new unit—WPPizza—delivering pies to clients and White advertising agencies in the network.

Such an enterprise also could’ve offered employment possibilities for the thousands laid off by the single White operating company.

Pizza Hut is being sold for $2.7 billion

Yum Brands Inc. is selling its struggling Pizza Hut division for $2.7 billion, allowing the restaurant operator to focus on its better-performing KFC and Taco Bell chains.

Private equity firm LongRange Capital will acquire Pizza Hut excluding China for $1.5 billion, Yum stated Tuesday. Yum China Holdings Inc. will buy the rest of the business for $1.2 billion. The transactions are expected to close in the third quarter.

Yum’s shares rose as much as 3.6%. The stock had gained 2.2% this year through Monday’s close, trailing the S&P 500’s 10% advance.

Investors had been expecting Yum to offload Pizza Hut, which it has owned since the restaurant company spun off from PepsiCo Inc. in 1997. The sale should help Yum sharpen its focus, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Michael Halen said.

“This enables them to divert their resources, their people, their energy and their capital toward one very high-growth chain and one very solid-growth chain,” he said.

Bloomberg reported in May that LongRange had entered exclusive talks with Yum to buy Pizza Hut. The company said last year that it was conducting a strategic review after years of trying to revive stagnant sales at the chain known for its pan pizzas with thick, buttery crust.

Domino’s pressure

Domino’s has trumped Pizza Hut in areas including menu innovation, marketing, ordering technology and delivery infrastructure, said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData. Pizza Hut also is a less popular option for casual diners who are eating in, as they look for larger menus and more contemporary environments, he said.

Pizza Hut’s U.S. business has underperformed peers in recent years, according to data from restaurant research firm Technomic Inc. The category got a lift as Americans ordered in during the pandemic, but sales have petered out since. Chains have launched a bevy of deals to boost traffic. Pizza Hut has struggled to compete.

“This is as promotional an environment as I’ve seen,” Halen said. At Pizza Hut, “the quality of the product wasn’t good, and the real estate here in the U.S. was a problem. You have these big stores and nobody is coming to your stores to sit down and eat.”

Pizza Hut’s share of Yum’s revenue has declined every year since 2019, shrinking to about 12% in 2025 from more than 18% six years earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. During that period, Pizza Hut’s revenue has hovered around $1 billion, while Yum’s revenue grew by about 47% to $8.2 billion last year.

The deal will leave Yum with KFC, its largest brand at $3.5 billion in annual sales, Taco Bell ($3 billion) and Habit Burger & Grill ($570 million).

“Pizza Hut has dragged on the otherwise solid results from the group,” Saunders said in his note. “In essence, the good numbers from KFC and Taco Bell have been clouded by the ongoing sales slides and profit slips at Pizza Hut.”

For Yum China, acquiring Pizza Hut in China will give it control of what it describes as the largest casual dining brand in the country, with segment revenue of $2.3 billion last year. It plans to boost locations to more than 6,000 by 2028 from roughly 4,400 at the end of March.

LongRange, based in Stamford, Connecticut, owns companies including 24 Hour Fitness.

17509: Reducing Redundancies At Omnicom Media US Operations.

2026-06-16T11:15:11.648-05:00

MediaPost reported Omnicom Media has apparently worked through the C-suite restructurings, redundancies, and RIFs in US operations resulting from the Omnicom acquisition of IPG.

And the survivors-winners are—drumroll, please—White people!

Omnicom Media Reboots U.S. Management, Blends Former IPG Leadership

By Joe Mandese

Seven months after its acquisition of Interpublic, Omnicom this morning unveiled a reorganization of Omnicom Media’s U.S. operations, blending the senior talent of both organizations.

Former IPG Mediabrands exec Stacy DeRiso becomes general manager-U.S. of Omnicom Media, a new position created after she held the dual role of global brand president and U.S. CEO of Initiative.

Long-time Omnicom exec Susanne Grundmann becomes global brand president of Initiative, while former IPG Mediabrands’ Rob DiGiovanni becomes U.S. CEO of Initiative.

Grundmann previously served as CEO of the EMEA operations of Omnicom’s PHD unit and prior to that served as CEO of OMD Germany.

DiGiovanni steps into the U.S CEO role following four years as president-global business lead at Initiative, overseeing several of the agency’s biggest accounts.

17508: Sir Martin Sorrell Surveys His Failures.

2026-06-15T01:52:54.716-05:00

Adweek interviewed Sir Martin Sorrell, who vomited vitriol in standard Sorrellian style.

The trade journal stated, “Sir Martin Sorrell has been an expert on M&A for almost half a century.”

Has he? It could be argued Sorrell’s expertise seriously eroded over the past decade at least.

His S4 Capital venture seems closer to breakdown than breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Sorrell’s notorious achievement—WPP—is a flaming dumpster. Indeed, the White holding company was death-spiraling toward a catastrophic crash landing long before Sir Peanut pulled the ripcord of his golden parachute.

Sir Martin Sorrell has been an expert…? At this point, he’s an expert has-been.

Sir Martin Sorrell Sees No Easy Exit for Holding Companies

Accenture should buy WPP and more insights from the S4 Capital executive chairman.

By Ryan Joe and Alison Weissbrot

Sir Martin Sorrell has been an expert on M&A for almost half a century. He founded WPP through reverse acquisition in 1985, and built it up into a towering ad giant that snapped up major agency brands like J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, and Young & Rubicam.

Following an ignominious departure in 2018—WPP accused him of misusing company assets—Sorrell plotted a comeback, founding S4 Capital just weeks later.

S4 built itself up through acquisition, notably production agency MediaMonks and performance agency MightyHive, positioning itself as a digital-first holdco. Lately, that thesis has been severely tested as many tech clients, where S4 has heavy exposure, pulled back on marketing spend to invest in AI.

Revenue contracted, and shares fell about 38% over the course of last year, though its early 2026 results have indicated improvement. S4 currently views itself as being in a period of stabilizing its business before revisiting growth-by-acquisition.

ADWEEK sat down with Sorrell to get his read on the market, who should buy whom, his competitors (whom he’s never been shy to criticize), and S4’s next steps.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. It was conducted before Publicis said it would buy LiveRamp, and Accenture said it would buy Whalar.

ADWEEK: The ad agency holdcos have gone from the biggest industry acquirers to acquisition targets. What’s the outlook?

SIR MARTIN SORRELL: There are very few, if any, exits. No activists have stepped in.

There are no takers. Most of the big deals would involve syndicates. One PE firm couldn’t write the check for WPP or Dentsu. Maybe Bain Capital could have done it on their own.

Besides Publicis, is any big holdco a buyer at this point?

Omnicom probably isn’t. Dentsu is not going to be in buying mode. Stagwell will try. The irony may be, this is the time to take the risk because valuations are so battered. But I don’t think people would take a risk.

If anyone was going to take a risk, who do you think it would be?

Well, Havas. Maybe not of scale. But [Havas CEO Yannick] Bolloré always sends you in the wrong direction. Always. Keeps you guessing.

And I think Accenture. If I was [Accenture CEO] Julia [Sweet], I would go for WPP. With them, they could get significantly better. I think the media piece in their hands would be very valuable. But whether they’ve got the balls though… It would be messy. But you’ve got David Droga there.

Publicis has been on a successful run. Is it sustainable?

What Publicis does—everybody says it’s all proprietary trading, which is why I think The Trade Desk thing is dangerous territory for them, they’re going to turn the microscope on themselves—is they look at the client as a whole.

Omnicom and WPP are falling into the trap of the matrix being driven by capability. The reorganization of WPP and the reorganization of Omnicom is capability-first, client second, geography third. Publicis and, indeed, ourselves is geography first, client second, capability third.

What’s wrong with organizing around capability?

You have warring factions. If you do it by country, you have inter-country rivalry, inter-region rivalry, that’s true, but you get people to integrate what they do. Publicis got it right. Can they maintain it? Well, the industry wisdom is these things go in cycles.

Actually, John Wren, if you look at Omnicom Advertising Group before they acquired IPG, had a better strategy. He was trying to push them together. Publicis didn’t nudge. They were quite forceful. And it was painful for them. They were more violent than probably I would have been. But directionally, it was the same thing.

What do the holdcos look like in three years?

I don’t know what [WPP CEO] Cindy [Rose] is going to do. She has huge balance sheet problems. But I would guess Omnicom will still be here. Publicis will still be here. Dentsu will be in a different form. Havas will be in a different form. WPP will be in a different form.

Let’s talk about S4. You guys had a tech winter. Where are you in all of this?

It’s tough. We rely on wholesale AI adoption. We really depend on more car verticals, more financial services verticals, more packaged goods. If we can get a little bit more traction, it will be fine. But we need more traction. And we’re not organized enough. Our integration has not been perfect by any means. Liquidity is much better.

What does that traction look like and how do you get it?

Traction looks like building relationships. If you look at our biggest relationships—Google, Amazon, T-Mobile, Disney, GM, Meta—there’s good stuff there, but the problem is that 45% of it is tech. And they’re all spending money on capex.

17507: On Elephants In The Room At BP.

2026-06-14T21:57:08.971-05:00

This BP employee training video empowers people to speak up against disrespectful and/or abusive behavior in the workplace.

Okay, but based on historical accusations, maybe the visual metaphor should’ve been a White elephant in the room.

17506: On Hiring At White Healthcare Agencies In The AI Era.

2026-06-13T19:29:26.285-05:00

PharmaLive published a perspective on how AI impacts hiring at White healthcare agencies.

The opinion piece is questionable on a few levels.

First, the authors are HR executives. Sorry, but HR does not make hiring decisions at White healthcare agencies—or any White advertising agencies or firms in Adland. The viewpoints on the topic, therefore, lack credibility, authority, and professional expertise.

Next, the article feels like it was crafted via AI, which sorta makes sense given HR executives are not writers, typically only capable of drafting descriptions of basic benefits and simple policies. Using AI to write about AI, however, is lazy, shameful, and hackneyed.

Of course, the nearly 1000-word exposition on hiring makes no references to DEIBA+ considerations.

Finally, the content is illustrated with an AI-generated image (depicted above) featuring a hand with six fingers. That PharmaLive editors and designers approved the graphic underscores a simple reality: pharmaceutical advertising sucks.

The AI-era interview: What healthcare agencies are really hiring for

By Beth Bogacz and Lexi Abbagnaro, AbelsonTaylor Group

AI has quickly become part of the hiring process on both sides of the table. Candidates are using it to write resumes, polish portfolios, rehearse and answer interview questions, and generate writing samples. Agencies are simultaneously exploring how AI can improve recruiting efficiency, support onboarding, and accelerate workflows across departments.

But as AI becomes more embedded in the hiring experience, it is also exposing something important about healthcare marketing talent: The abilities agencies value most are increasingly the skills AI and automation struggle to replicate.

That tension is especially visible in medical advertising, where the work depends on a combination of strategic thinking, scientific understanding, collaboration, and communication. Candidates may arrive with increasingly refined materials, but polished documents alone do not tell recruiters whether someone can navigate a difficult client conversation, synthesize conflicting feedback, or contribute meaningfully to a brand team operating under pressure.

When every resume looks impressive

The interview itself has become more revealing than ever. Over the last year, we have seen a noticeable shift in how candidates present themselves during the application process. AI tools now make it easy to create resumes and writing samples that appear highly sophisticated, regardless of experience level. In many ways, that is the new baseline. Candidates are encouraged to submit professional, well-organized materials, and most people will use available technology to help accomplish that.

The challenge is determining where AI assistance ends and authentic capability begins. That distinction usually becomes clearer in conversation. In interviews, candidates have to think in real time. They have to explain how they approached a problem, describe why a campaign worked or failed, and demonstrate how they collaborate with others. Those moments reveal far more than a perfectly formatted resume ever could.

The interview as the new litmus test

We have also encountered situations where candidates appeared to be actively relying on AI during interviews themselves. Sometimes the signs are subtle: delayed responses, eyes moving to another screen before answering the question, polished answers that contrast with hesitant or less articulate opening remarks. These inconsistencies in the interview rhythm can disrupt the flow of conversation and make it difficult to assess how the candidate actually thinks.

That does not mean candidates should avoid AI altogether. In fact, many are using it productively, preparing for interviews through mock questions, role-playing scenarios, or refining how they communicate their experience. The issue is not whether candidates use AI. The issue is whether they can function independently without the technology.

Why human judgment still matters

Within healthcare communication agencies specifically, that distinction matters because so much of the work depends on judgment. Teams are constantly balancing scientific accuracy, client expectations, regulatory considerations, and audience needs. There is rarely one perfect answer. People have to navigate ambiguity, make decisions with available information, and communicate clearly across disciplines. Those are deeply human skills.

Emotional intelligence remains one of the clearest differentiators in hiring conversations today. So does curiosity. Candidates who ask thoughtful questions, actively listen, and engage in genuine discussion tend to stand out quickly. Creativity also continues to matter, particularly the ability to challenge assumptions or generate unexpected ideas within highly regulated environments.

AI can accelerate execution. It can summarize information, organize thoughts, and improve efficiency. But it still cannot replicate the instinct behind a strong strategic insight or the interpersonal awareness required to build trust with clients and colleagues.

New expectations for emerging talent

There are changing expectations for junior talent as well. Increasingly, entry-level candidates are expected to arrive with at least baseline familiarity with AI tools and an openness to experimenting with new technologies. In many cases, early career professionals are introducing workflows or tools that more established teams may not yet be using. What matters most is adaptability.

Healthcare marketing has always evolved alongside changes in media, technology, and consumer behavior, but the pace of change is different now. Candidates who thrive tend to be the ones comfortable learning continuously, working across functions, and wearing multiple hats when needed. That is especially true at small and midsize agencies, where collaboration across departments is often essential to how work gets done.

The rise of ‘power skills’

The industry is also placing greater value on what many organizations now call “power skills”: cross-functional thinking, communication, adaptability, and strategic leadership. Those qualities consistently surface in recruiting conversations across levels and disciplines. While leadership expectations naturally increase with seniority, even junior employees are expected to collaborate across teams and contribute beyond defined responsibilities.

At the same time, hiring teams have become more intentional about how they assess authenticity during interviews. Behavioral and situational questions have become more and more important because they help reveal how candidates think, process challenges, approach decisions, and communicate under pressure. It is not the specific answer that matters most but it is how someone arrives there.

AI fluency vs. AI dependence

So far, AI has not fundamentally changed the structure of many hiring exercises within healthcare agencies. Case studies, writing assignments and role-specific exercises were already common practice long before AI became prevalent. What has changed is the conversation surrounding them. In some cases, candidates may even be encouraged to use AI tools as part of the exercise, depending on the role. Familiarity with AI is becoming part of professional fluency. But fluency is not the same as dependence.

The candidates who stand out today are usually the ones who understand how to use AI as an enhancement rather than a substitute. They know how to leverage technology to improve efficiency while still bringing original thinking, strong communication, and independent judgment to the table. That balance is becoming one of the defining hiring questions for healthcare agencies.

The future workforce will almost certainly be more AI-capable than the one before it. The agencies that succeed will not be the ones trying to avoid that reality. They will be the ones that learn how to identify talent capable of combining AI technology with the human skills healthcare marketing still depends on most.

17505: More On WPP And Publicis Groupe Battling Over Coca-Cola.

2026-06-12T09:55:23.258-05:00

More About Advertising opined on The Coca-Cola Company launching a media, data, and technology review that will pit WPP against Publicis Groupe.

MAA rightly points out the review is focused on media, data, and technology business currently with WPP.

The North America media business with Publicis Groupe is not in review.

Plus, WPP is apparently not at risk of losing global creative and PR business—even though the White holding company sought to prune PR from its portfolio.

Is Publicis Groupe sneakily seeking to incrementally acquire the entire Coke business?

Is WPP desperately seeking to retain business with delusional hopes of someday regaining the North America media business from Publicis Groupe?

And what’s the real thing’s real objective?

MAA argued back in the day, White advertising agencies wouldn’t tolerate such shenanigans from clients.

Okay, but back in the day, the Cola Wars were waged with breakthrough creative executions that struck emotional chords to seize market share.

Now the worldwide battles aim to control media, data, and technology—although the collateral damages and casualties are civilians.

Pitch-prone Coca-Cola reviews business still at WPP

By Stephen Foster

Winning all of Coca-Cola’s agency marketing business was one of the few good things to happen to WPP during the end of CEO Mark Read’s reign — but what a business it is to mind.

WPP started off winning everything but [then] lost North America media to Publicis, probably the most profitable part. Now Coke, which seems painfully addicted to reviews, is holding a shoot-out twixt WPP and Publicis for its media, data and technology everywhere except North America (don’t they want to upset Publicis’ Arthur Sadoun?), Japan and Korea where it works with Dentsu. Creative doesn’t seem to included officially although it’s hard to see how it can [be] left out with all this going on.

The ostensible reason for the review, to be handled by Mediasense, is to create a “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.” Which might mean anything, or nothing.

One has to feel for newish WPP CEO Cindy Rose and her team who can probably envisage a future in which all they do is repitch for chunks of Coca-Cola.

Back in the day a big, confident agency would have shown a client, even one as big as Coca-Cola, the door over these shenanigans. The same thought may have occurred to Publicis CEO Sadoun unless he’s pretty sure it’s all coming his way. Coke’s use of “agentic” may be a clue.

17504: Omnicom Renders Restructurings, Redundancies, And RIFs With Precision.

2026-06-11T17:34:08.687-05:00

Mediapsssst reported Omnicom continues its radical restructuring since acquiring IPG.

The latest scheme involves the launch of Omnicom Precision Marketing, which includes folding White precision marketing agency RAPP into White digital experience agency Critical Mass.

It’s obvious, but Critical Mass + RAPP = CRAPP.

Omnicom Precision Marketing Folds Agency Rapp Into Critical Mass

By Richard Whitman

The new Omnicom continues to finetune its operations.

The latest restructuring occurred within the company’s precision marketing division, led by Luke Taylor, where Rapp has been folded into Critical Mass.

Rapp is a precision marketing and consumer experience agency. And Critical Mass is a marketing agency with a focus on digital experience design.

Combined the agencies have about 3,000 staff and over a dozen offices globally.

Jeannine Falcone who has led Rapp as Global CEO since 2024 will be departing the company. Chris Gokiert remains Global CEO at Critical Mass.

Omnicom issued statement:

“The new Omnicom Precision Marketing is focused on strengthening Omnicom’s transformation consultancy and activation offerings. Credera will lead the transformation consultancy practice, with Critical Mass leading activation.

Critical Mass, Omnicom’s premier digital experience and AI innovation agency, now leads the activation practice, retaining and maintaining the RAPP, MRM, and Targetbase brands as distinct operating brands under its leadership.”

17503: How Consumer Trust Affects Brand Loyalty.

2026-06-10T16:16:04.016-05:00

Adweek reported a McCann study showed 69% of consumers claimed they’d abandon brands they no longer trust, while 80% claimed they’d intentionally choose brands they do.

Can’t help but wonder how consumers’ trust and preferences might be impacted if they learned brands partnered with White advertising agencies mired in exclusivity and systemic racism. Don’t forget advertising practitioners regularly rank among the least-trusted professions too.

Those White advertising agencies, incidentally, include McCann.

Over Two-Thirds of Consumers Will Ditch Brands They Don’t Trust

New study from McCann unpacks a growing consumer trust crisis

By Robert Klara

Consumers are mired in a trust crisis—and that’s a problem for brands, according to a new study from McCann.

The Truth About Global Brands study, released Wednesday, surveyed more than 20,000 people across 20 global markets. It found that though 72% of respondents believe it’s “more important than ever to prioritize truth,” 55% say that brands were more truthful 20 years ago than they are today.

AI has only made things worse: 76% of respondents feared that, before long, they’ll be unable to tell actual humans from computer-generated ones.

“There’s this yearning amongst consumers worldwide to find the truth,” McCann global CEO Tyler Turnbull told ADWEEK. “But it’s harder than ever to do so in terms of the content that we’re consuming, the AI generation that’s happening, and frankly, the decline that we’re seeing in trust amongst large institutions, governments, and brands.”

In this new dynamic, the risks and rewards are both high. Over two-thirds of consumers (69%) said they’d abandoned the brands they no longer trust, while 80% said they’d “actively choose” brands they do.

While that makes it a difficult environment for brands to communicate with audiences, that communication is key to rebuilding trust, Turnbull said.

AI transparency

That starts with being truthful about AI use.

More than half (53%) of respondents said that the most effective way to secure their trust is for brands to be up front about whether they’re using AI in their ads.

Take influencers, for example. The FTC’s required disclosure of any “material connection” with the brand applies to all endorsers—human or not.

The marketing department may leave it at that, but McCann’s data makes clear that consumers want to be advised when an avatar is talking to them.

“There’s a need to be authentic and open and transparent,” Turnbull said.

From the west to the rest

Another important factor in building trust is a brand’s understanding of global culture.

While a flood of information online has left many consumers confused and dubious, it’s also opened them up to a wealth of new ideas, trends, and outlooks, often from the earth’s far corners.

The age when brands assumed that trends began on the American coasts and then spread to the rest of the world has given way to a more diversified and equalized exchange of ideas. Customers, the study found, are more likely to trust brands willing to embrace that expanse of influences.

“What we’re seeing is successful global brands looking everywhere for where culture is being created and moving, and then exporting that to other markets,” Turnbull said. “Every brand and consumer is craving the same thing: authenticity.”

17502: In Adland, AI Stands For Avoiding Inclusion.

2026-06-09T10:35:38.419-05:00

MediaPost spotlighted a new 4As report cautioning White advertising agencies that using AI to replace new hires could adversely impact next-generation leadership growth.

Given entry-level hiring and recruiting has fueled global performative DEIBA+ initiatives, choosing AI over newbies shuts down critical talent pipelines to underserved and underrepresented candidates.

In Adland, AI fortifies exclusivity and systemic racism.

How Cutting Entry-Level Agency Jobs Impacts The Entire Industry

By Steve McClellan

The ad agency world has long fretted over entry-level positions and how to get to the best talent to fill them.

The industry accepts that it probably won’t be the highest paying sector in the economy and that it has likely lost many potential candidates to higher-paying fields like tech and finance.

More recent developments have complicated the issue further, including hybrid workforces that have put a damper on career-mentoring channels.

And advancements in artificial intelligence are now enabling agencies to cut staff—particularly entry-level posts that don’t involve much, if any, strategic thinking—to further reduce expenses.

But a new report from the 4As and consultant DBC urges agencies to carefully consider their use of AI to replace new hires, noting that such a strategy could stunt the growth of next-generation leadership.

“By treating these roles as short-term costs rather than long-term investment, agencies risk creating a ‘hollowed-out’ middle management for the next decade,” the report, written by DBC President Bill Daddi, states.

The report quotes several industry leaders and cites a Forrester study that projects that U.S. ad agencies will automate 7.5% of jobs by 2030, most of which will be entry-level positions.

4As CEO Justin Thomas-Copeland states that pressure on entry-level jobs in the industry has been steadily increasing in recent years, but that AI has “hyper-accelerated that progression, where it feels much more aggressive than in any sort of disruptive time that I’ve been in the industry.”

One of the report’s recommendations: Rethink and build mentorship exposure and career development into the industry’s hybrid workforce culture.

“We’ve quietly killed the apprenticeship model where talent learned by being around the seasoned pros at their agencies,” states Caroline Winterton, former CEO at DDB. “If we don’t replace it with something intentional, we’ll end up with leaders who know the tools but don’t have the taste, judgment or people skills the industry needs.”

With fewer people at agencies, there is also more pressure on mid-tier players to drive growth versus their traditional roles of managing teams and completing projects, the report asserts.

The industry needs to redefine what skills entry-level positions require. Traditionally, those roles have focused on executing repetitive tasks.

“Future junior employees must be better equipped to connect strategy, creativity, analytics and AI-enabled systems,” the report asserts.

“AI literacy matters,” states Witherton. “But so does critical thinking, storytelling and knowing when not to use the tool. We need to invest in both sides of the equation.”

More from the report, “Redefining Entry-Level Agency Positions in the Age of AI,” can be found here.

17501: On Expanding The Havas Creative Network.

2026-06-08T00:18:00.616-05:00

MediaPost recently reported Havas Creative Network—an oxymoron, for sure—created new and expanded roles for White people.

The spotlighted executives were not blood relatives of the Bolloré clan, so the appointments arguably show progress—emphasis and eyeroll on progress.

Havas Creative Network Taps Former UM CEO DeMiero For New Senior Role

By Steve McClellan

Havas Creative Network today announced the appointment of industry veteran Joe DeMiero as its Chief Client and Business Officer for North America, a new role at the firm.

DeMiero was US CEO at Interpublic media agency UM for two years (2022-23). He joins Havas from Sam’s Club, where he was vice president, marketing.

Separately, Maggie Connors has been upped to North America CMO, overseeing marketing and prospecting strategy, brand storytelling, industry events and partner experiences. The role is new for the region and previously Connors was global marketing and brands officer.

And Pat Thistlethwaite has been promoted to North America Chief Growth & Experience Officer, overseeing “the full North America pitch operation” the firm stated. It’s an expanded role for Thistlethwaite, who previously was global CX officer, Havas CX.

17500: On Black-Owned Brands At Target.

2026-06-07T02:13:07.204-05:00

Digiday published a lengthy report on Black-owned brands feeling alienated—and abandoned—by Target.

The retailer’s decision to pull back inclusive initiatives triggered a DEIBA+ domino effect with collateral damage to cultures, communities, and cash registers.

Target has alienated Black-owned brands, founders say, as some startups vanish from its shelves

By Mitchell Parton

This story was first published on Digiday sibling Modern Retail.

In 2022, April Showers finally got her big retail break as her brand, Afro Unicorn, entered Target and Walmart.

Afro Unicorn is a licensed-character brand designed for women of color that sells hair-care products, books, apparel and more. For Showers, as a Black entrepreneur aiming to normalize Black beauty, getting into mainstream retail was a critical milestone.

“It wasn’t to help normalize it for us,” Showers said. “It was there to normalize it for everyone else, so that when a little white girl walks into the room and sees a Black girl, she doesn’t look at her any differently.”

Nearly four years later, however, Showers’ products are no longer found on Target’s shelves after the company pulled back from some diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Showers told Modern Retail that, as a result of Target’s decision, she decided to stop advertising Afro Unicorn’s presence at the retailer, adding that the brand’s sales at Target fell below the company’s standards and that its products were cleared from its shelves by the end of 2025.

Some Afro Unicorn plushes and a book are still available on Target’s website, but not in stores — speaking to how long it can take for a brand’s inventory to be cleared from warehouses. The brand is still available at Walmart and CVS Pharmacy.

This isn’t the way Showers wanted things to go. She said she initially pushed her community to do a “buyout” — as in buying all the Black brands at Target until they sold out — but they were resistant to it. She said her followers, Black or not, did not want to shop at Target as they felt like the company didn’t acknowledge it had made a mistake in how it pulled back from DEI programs.

“I never want to feel like I’m hurting my community or anyone around, so if you tell me we’re boycotting [Target], then we’re boycotting it; one band, one sound,” Showers said. “I did not like how Target never came out with a statement and really put it on the backs of the founders to figure this all out.”

Afro Unicorn isn’t the only Black-owned brand that has disappeared from Target’s shelves over the past few years. While Target’s DEI pullback hurt its reputation within the Black community, other Black founders Modern Retail spoke with said they found Target to be a frustrating wholesale partner, even before 2025.

A couple of founders said they struggled to get key information from their respective buyers, which hampered their sales. One described promotions they had to pay to participate in that they thought would be free. And, in the case of another founder, they only got an answer about their brand’s fate with Target — after months of unanswered emails — after going to a Target diversity executive, even though the brand wasn’t part of any supplier diversity program at Target.

Target representatives declined to share details on specific conversations or interactions with vendors, but said that it makes changes to its assortment based on how products are performing and what shoppers are looking for.

“Style, design and value are at the heart of our differentiated assortment, and emerging brands play an important role alongside national brands and owned brands,” a Target spokesperson said in a statement. “We’re proud of our long-term record of helping small businesses grow and reach new customers at Target, and will continue to create opportunities for new brands.”

Other Black-owned brands once featured at Target have been removed from the retailer’s assortment without explanation. These include Alikay Naturals and Oyin Handmade, which are still sold outside of Target. Some, like hair-care brand Curls Dynasty, have gone out of business entirely.

Entrepreneur and author Tina Wells said her luggage and accessories brand, WNDR LN, was built exclusively for Target but was canceled and removed from stores by late 2024. While some of her products are still listed on Target’s website, she said she hasn’t fulfilled an order to Target since August 2023 and that anything still available is back stock.

A representative for Black-owned skin-care brand GlowRx, in an email, said the brand “no longer being in Target was not our voluntary decision.”

Some brands may have been removed from Target due to their sales performance.

“I’ve seen them kick out eight brands — not because they were Black, not because they were woman-owned and not because they were Latina-owned, but because they didn’t perform,” Melissa Butler, founder of vegan lipstick brand The Lip Bar, said in an Instagram video last year. She was warning her shoppers that the same fate could come to Black brands if customers were to stop shopping for them at Target as part of a boycott.

Target, for its part, is trying to position 2026 as a comeback year. This month, Target reported its first quarter of sales growth in more than a year as CEO Michael Fiddelke and his team have worked to refine its assortment and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll and store technology to improve the guest experience.

And, Target continues to expand the number of Black-owned brands it carries in stores. It has hundreds of Black-owned brands in its stores, double the amount compared to 2020, the company said in an email. Last fall, it added KBB by Kahlana to its stores, which a press release described as “one of Target’s most in-demand women’s apparel and accessories brands.” It continues to spotlight Black-owned brands on its website, such as through a Black History Month collection featuring Black designers.

But even as Target adds new Black-owned brands to its assortment, it has burned bridges with others.

“I personally don’t feel like we saw any benefit,” from being at Target, one Black founder who spoke on the condition of anonymity said. The founder said their brand was dropped in the fall of 2024 after several years with the retailer. “We invested a lot of money and a lot of time, and we spent much more money than we ever made at Target. We were doing so much better before we were in store at Target, and if I could redo it, I probably would have just not done the partnership at all.”

The lingering DEI problem

One of the big driving factors that led many Black entrepreneurs, like Showers, to pull back on their support for Target was the company’s decision last year to walk back some of its DEI goals, programs and initiatives. That decision — and Target’s murky communications around what led to the pullback — led to some shoppers boycotting the chain.

Last year, Target concluded its three-year diversity, equity and inclusion goals, concluded its Racial Equity Action and Change initiatives, stopped all externally diversity-focused surveys such as the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index and renamed its “supplier diversity” team to “supplier engagement.” Still, the company said that this year, it fulfilled its 2021 commitment to invest $2 billion in Black-owned businesses.

Showers said fellow founders would tell her they were waiting for Target executives to admit they made a mistake on DEI, but that she was never optimistic. Target’s pullback itself came off as performative, Showers said, given that it previously had embraced the Black and LGBTQ+ communities, such as by making public statements on racial equity and investing in scholarships, business consulting and sponsorships aimed to support marginalized groups.

“It was like a slap in the face to the community that basically felt that they helped build Target’s name in the urban sector,” Showers said. “The community was hurt. It was an emotional attachment that they had with Target, because they felt like Target was there for us.”

Target did eventually address the frustration last May, but in an internal email that communications professionals found vague and underwhelming and didn’t specifically address what the company did.

Target’s Fiddelke told the Associated Press in March that boycotts were among the things that impacted its sales last year. The company’s net sales decreased 1.7% to $104.8 billion from 2024 to 2025. “We’ve got trust to win back with guests, and we’ll be focused on doing it,” he told the outlet. “There’s no easy button to win back trust, but we’ll do the work.”

Shortly after Fiddelke’s comments that Target’s goal was to win back guest trust, Atlanta pastor Jamal Bryant in March said he was ending his boycott of the company after “productive” conversations with Fiddelke and others at the company, according to USA Today. Target, however, did not offer any concessions or reverse any changes it made to its policies, the newspaper reported.

However, organizers of another boycott — civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, Jaylani Hussein of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Monique Cullars-Doty of Black Lives Matter Minnesota — held a press conference, also in March, to say their boycott remains ongoing.

But the DEI pullback has continued to harm the company’s brand reputation, argues SOC Investment Group, Mercy Investment Services and Trillium Asset Management. The activist investors launched a campaign this month encouraging shareholders to vote against the re-elections of former Target CEO and executive chair Brian Cornell, as well as lead independent director Christine Leahy.

“Target’s brand has eroded, and it’s not from taking a stance, but from appearing disingenuous on social issues,” said Emma Bayes, deputy director of SOC Investment Group, in an interview. Her firm works with labor unions and their pension funds to promote good governance.

“Retreating from DEI commitments that once defined it as a leader, Target undermined its credibility, made the brand feel inauthentic at a time when consumers are actively seeking companies that stand firmly and consistently by their values,” Bayes said.

Showers said she’s not completely against working with Target again, but would need to see a statement made addressing its previous decision on DEI, among other things.

“I don’t see myself going back until Target actually does what they did [before] 2024 and truly embraces women, Black businesses and all other marginalized businesses, like they did previously, publicly,” Showers said. “I know that would never happen.”

Showers took a six-figure hit just within her hair-care line after leaving Target, she said. Her company lost a total of $600,000 in revenue from 2024 to 2025, according to her. She attributes those lost sales to retailer boycotts in response to DEI decisions in response to the Trump administration.

“We were collateral damage because of this administration’s policies,” she said. “It was this administration, with their fear that they did to these retailers for DEI, that caused the hurt.”

A costly bet on Target

For other Black founders, their issues with Target stem from their belief that the retailer was not a good partner in giving their brands visibility and accessibility nationwide.

When Trey Brown and his brother Donovan appeared on “Shark Tank” with their Ride FRSH line of air fresheners in 2023, the two co-founders said their goal was to expand the business at retail. Later that year, that dream became reality. They landed a deal with Target to get their products into stores, which was supposed to begin their launch into mass retail, in addition to an agreement with AutoZone.

Instead, Target has been a nightmare for the Black-owned brand, as Brown described to Modern Retail. Shortly. After the launch, he said, customers would complain that they couldn’t find the products in the stores. He discovered the stores would have the items but not put them on the floor, and instead hold them in the back room.

Brown said Ride FRSH only ever got an answer about what happened to his brand this year from a Target diversity executive, even though the brand was accepted at Target as any other supplier, not as part of any diversity program.

“Why do I have to talk to the diversity initiatives guy to get an answer when I’m not even in a DEI program, and never was?” Brown said. “I should be able to reach the owner of the specific section, the buyer of the section. But somehow, nobody’s following up, and nobody gave a shit. So it just was like, ‘OK, so I have to go talk to the Black guy to get a response?’”

He said the executive apologized and said that’s not the way Target handles it, but that their solution was to get in touch with Target Plus — a third-party marketplace program that only deals with products sold online, not in stores. Brown said he was told by the diversity executive that it was “not likely” that he would get his products back on the floor.

Ride FRSH no longer appears on Target’s website; Brown said he’s not exactly sure when Target stopped listing the product or selling it in stores. He said Target has sent invoices to the brand that buyers would tell the brothers to ignore.

“Even when they [Target] had an opportunity to tell us that we were no longer with them, they just didn’t tell us that,” he said. In recent months, he has struggled to get an answer from Target’s buyers on whether the retailer has discontinued the relationship, and if so, why they have done so. He also said he hasn’t gotten any information on how the brand performed at Target.

“We’re stuck with a whole bunch of inventory, trying to figure out what’s going on,” Brown said.

The founder whose brand was dropped by Target in 2024 went through a similar ordeal.

“We were told there was a change in product lineup, so they were just not going to move forward,” they said, adding that there was no other reason given as to why they were removed. “That was the whole conversation.” This founder, like Brown, said they had sent several emails to Target buyers without a response when trying to get information on a promotion they were supposed to be part of.

The founder said they paid for and warehoused at least $100,000 in product to be prepared for the next season with Target. Target had encouraged them to have the product stored in the U.S. rather than overseas, they said, so the brand would be able to get it to the retailer if the company needed a last-minute shipment instead of paying up to $30,000 to ship it from overseas.

“We’ve been, like, selling through it, slowly but surely, but we’re paying ridiculous amounts of money, like warehouse fees,” they said.

The founder said being at Target was costly overall, due to shipping costs, giving Target 50% of the proceeds and having to pay to change their packaging at the request of Target buyers. Additionally, the entrepreneur said they would have to pay if they wanted to be featured in certain promotions through Target’s Roundel retail media network, including Black History Month promotions. “If I wanted to pay $25,000 for marketing, I wouldn’t go in Target, I would just make an ad and go direct-to-consumer myself,” they said.

Finally, the founder said they had to pay for a certification in order to be featured on Target’s website as a Black-owned vendor. They said they had thought Target would give the brand free marketing opportunities during Black History Month or other events.

Brown, for his part, said he had no numbers on how Ride FRSH sold at Target, making it impossible to tell other retailers how they performed there. That could jeopardize future attempts at retail expansion. “If another retailer wants to come to us and ask us for numbers, we don’t have any,” he said.

He estimates he has lost $200,000 due to what happened with Target. What’s particularly frustrating, he said, is that it also compromises his direct-to-consumer business, because the brand stopped focusing as much on it to fulfill orders for retailers and because the capital it would use to invest in it is tied up with the retailers.

“You just want a chance to have an even playing field somewhere in this country,” Brown said. From his perspective, “there were never any issues with our products, and we did everything we were supposed to do. But if you don’t put the products out on the floor, then how are we supposed to compete?”

17499: On AI Ignorance, Incapability, and Inaccuracy.

2026-06-06T01:16:55.836-05:00

Mediapsssst reported on a study from Stagwell’s Harris Poll and Milken Institute that featured the following:

Eighty-five percent of business leaders admit to feeling pressure to appear further with their firm’s AI implementation plans than they actually are and almost as many (80%) admitted that while they “talk a good AI game” publicly they are still trying to figure out the technology.

Advertisers should keep this in mind when White holding companies—including Stagwell—hype wondrous AI services and capabilities.

In Adland, AI stands for Actually Inept—or Advertising Incompetence.

Report: 68% Of Workers Are Navigating AI Transition ‘On Their Own’

By Richard Whitman

A new study from Stagwell’s Harris Poll and Milken Institute finds that a significant gap exists between what business leaders are saying about their companies’ AI readiness and the reality of the situation.

Sixty-one percent of employees say their leadership “barely talks about AI” internally, while 41% report they have received no meaningful AI support from their employer in the past 12 months.

And 68% of workers say they are navigating the AI transition largely on their own.

The study is the latest installment of the Harris Poll Listening Project with the Milken Institute. This year’s study included surveys of 2000 US adults 18 plus, including 1,280 workers and a separate poll of 500 business leaders at the vice-presidential level or higher at businesses generating $2 billion or more in revenue.

See the full report here.

17498: Can’t Beat The Real Exclusivity.

2026-06-05T11:48:38.345-05:00

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.

2026-06-04T01:53:33.964-05:00

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.

2026-06-03T00:48:14.099-05:00

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.”