The 10 Biggest Creative and Media Account Changes of 2022

There were fewer consolidation plays this year than last. In 2021, CMOs streamlined their rosters, in some cases assigning entire marketing portfolios to a single holding company. Although consolidation was at the heart of the Audible and Mondelez pitches, there were fewer instances of consolidation in 2022. Instead, several brands opted to split investments between two or more agencies, especially across different geographies and product lines. Still, those assignments often went to holding companies, indicating that marketers use holding companies’ sizes to their advantage whether or not they work with one, two or more.

Brands Find It Painful to Address Agencies’ Most Pressing Pitching Problems

“Marketers are not necessarily equating big with bloat, and that’s what we’ve seen in the past,” said Simone Oppenheimer Mandel, co-founder of consultancy NBZ Partner, which specializes in agency matchmaking. “Over the past decade marketers have been walking away from big agencies or looking for smaller and midsize agency solutions because they’re saying that big is bloat. There’s actually a shift away from that.”

Reviews in 2022 largely fell into two categories: Agencies that won because they narrowed their scopes to play to their strengths, and agencies that stressed their integrated offerings to capture more projects spanning the marketing funnel.

Before the pandemic, Oppenheimer Mandel said agencies commonly pitched clients a metaphorical “shiny object,” otherwise known as eye-catching but ineffective work. Agencies were more likely to disregard if clients could actually afford it or if it would deliver results, so long as the creative thinking impressed them. The goal then was to “dazzle [the client] with the idea.” In 2022, those unrealistic pitches fell out of favor as agencies leaned into “more practical and very efficient” pitches designed to drive results, the consultant told Adweek.

Here are some of the biggest account changes we saw in 2022:

AB InBev

Previous agency: Dentsu Media
New agency: Publicis Media, led by Starcom; Dentsu retained Canada and Africa markets.
Size of account: AB InBev spent $845 million between July 2020 to June 2021, of which 31% is digital, according to COMvergence.
Why it’s significant: This year, several high-profile marketing leadership changes correlated with new business moves, as tends to be the case. After AB InBev U.S. CMO Benoit Garbe took the top job, a global review quickly followed. The beer brand expanded its relationship with Publicis from the APAC and LATAM markets to the U.S. and Europe markets. Now, Publicis manages a majority of the account, while incumbent Dentsu continues to service Canada and Africa. Notably, AB InBev locked both holding companies into 66-month contracts.

KFC

Previous agency: Wieden+Kennedy
New agency: Spark Foundry and MullenLowe
Size of account: KFC spent $166 million between July 2020 to July 2021, including $50 million on digital media, according to COMvergence.
Why it’s significant: The brand had a longstanding relationship with Wieden+Kennedy, which had handled KFC’s creative since 2015 and its media since 2018. The W+K era produced suggestive ads like “A Recipe for Seduction,” starring Mario Lopez as Colonel Sanders. It pushed boundaries and broadened the brand’s appeal. But by September 2021, the account was in review, and that October, Nick Chavez defected from Nintendo and become CMO. By this February, KFC had severed both ties with W+K, appointing MullenLowe Boston its creative AOR and handing Spark Foundry its media account.

Audi

Previous agency: Venables Bell & Partners
New agency: Ogilvy
Size of account: Audi spent $110 million on measured media in the U.S., of which $44 million is digital, according to COMvergence.
Why it’s significant: This high-profile review spanned eight months and marked the end of Audi’s 15-year relationship with Venables Bell & Partners, which chose not to defend. Tara Rush initiated the review 11 months after becoming Audi’s CMO, telling Adweek at the time of the decision, “We are transforming and reshaping the perception of Audi in the U.S.” Ogilvy vied with Droga5 in the review’s final round before the brand named it creative AOR.

Audible

Previous agency: Spark Foundry in the U.S.; Hearts & Sciences in the U.K.; Numerous agencies in other markets
New agency: Wavemaker
Size of account: Audible spent $500 million, according to a source familiar with the review.
Why it’s significant: The Audible review was one of the year’s best examples of how large brands continue consolidating their spend with fewer partners. Before it kicked off a global media review, it worked with numerous agencies across geographies, but the review’s outcome saw the brand’s entire media budget go to a single holding company. Omnicom’s Hearts & Science and Publicis’ Spark Foundry previously managed significant portions of the business, and defended their positions in the review. A final round came down to Spark Foundry, Initiative and Wavemaker. Wavemaker captured the entire account, with the agency’s COO Sharb Farjami telling Adweek that GroupM’s investment tools and tech, including Choreograph and the newly-formed technology layer GroupM Nexus, likely influenced the decision.

Bud Light

Previous agency: Wieden+Kennedy
New agency: Anomaly for Bud Light; The Martin Agency for Bud Light Seltzer
Size of account: Bud Light spent $52 million on traditional and offline media in the U.S. in 2021. Bud Light Seltzer’s spending reached $91 million, according to COMvergence.
Why it’s significant: High-profile agencies went head-to-head to win this pitch, with Adweek’s 2020 and 2021 U.S. Agency of the Year, The Martin Agency, and Adweek’s 2022 U.S. Agency of the Year, Anomaly, competing in the final round. The beer brand decided to split its business between the two, with Bud Light going to Anomaly and The Martin Agency securing Bud Light Seltzer, the larger part of the business.

Burger King

Previous agency: David Agency for creative; Horizon Media for media
New agency: O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul for Burger King U.S. creative; PHD for Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes media
Size of account: Burger King spent $229 million in offline media in 2021, according to COMvergence. Its sister brands Tim Hortons and Popeyes spent $6 million and $124 million on media, respectively.
Why it’s significant: Burger King parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) kicked off a review following a marketing leadership exodus. RBI global CMO Fernando Machado, RBI global chief brand officer Paloma Azulay, Burger King North America CMO Ellie Doty and Popeyes CMO Bruno Cardinali left the brand during the year leading up to the review. After the brand parted ways with both its incumbents, an anonymous source told Adweek that RBI wanted to embrace “creative effectiveness” instead of “creative excellence.”

Ford

Previous agency: BBDO
New agency: Wieden+Kennedy
Size of account: Ford spent $1.8 billion on marketing globally in 2021, with 29% in digital spend, according to COMvergence
Why it’s significant: The brand gave Wieden+Kennedy its creative and brand business after slashing its scope with incumbent BBDO. The independent agency started working for the automotive company back in 2018 and took on more work as time went on. This year it won its new title without a review, as Ford made the decision “to streamline its global marketing business under one creative agency to drive brand consistency globally and provide greater operational efficiencies,” a brand spokesperson told Adweek in October.

Nike

Previous agency: Mindshare; Assembly
New agency: PMG in North America; Initiative outside North America and in the EMEA and APLA regions
Size of account: Nike spent $1 billion total, with $300 to $400 million in NA, according to a source with knowledge of the review.
Why it’s significant: The Nike review solidified independent media agency PMG’s place as a holding company competitor. Adweek recognized PMG as its 2021 Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year. A source told Adweek in July that amplifying Nike’s DTC business was the review’s major goal. The retailer now refers to PMG as its “global digital capabilities provider,” with agency’s proprietary technology platform, Alli, supporting Nike’s North America media and analytics.

PMG’s high-profile win is perhaps the year’s ideal example of how media agencies with integrated offerings can achieve unprecedented levels of success.

“Imagine if that media agency can also either have an idea or create the content and understand the [platform] landscaped so well that they understand what kinds of ideas work best at each touchpoint,” Oppenheimer Mandel told Adweek.

L’Oréal

Previous agency: Wavemaker
New agency: Omnicom Media Group
Size of account: $1 billion in media spend, OMG North America CEO Ralph Pardo told Ad Age.
Why it’s significant: The year closed out with L’Oréal parting ways with Wavemaker and naming Omnicom Media Group its U.S. AOR. It’s a significant loss for GroupM’s Wavemaker, which has expanded its relationship with the brand in 2021 and defended the business, according to Ad Age.

Mondelez

Previous agency: Dentsu Media
New agency: Publicis Media; VaynerMedia and WPP retained some of the business
Size of account: Mondelez spent $1.64 billion in 2021, with 45% in digital spend, according to COMvergence.
Why it’s significant: This review’s outcome turned 70% of Mondelez’s global media business over to Publicis, up from the 30% it previously managed. This was a significant loss for Dentsu’s Carat, which did not participate in the U.S. review and quickly withdrew from the global review. It’s also an example of how some marketers, particularly large ones, continue consolidating their business with a single partner.