Publicis Nabs a Bulk of Mondelez's Global Media Business

Publicis Groupe won a bulk of Mondelez’s global media business following a review that kicked off in December and concluded this week. VaynerMedia and WPP retained some of the business. Publicis will lead media for the brand in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa Peninsula, South Africa and China. It will also manage Mondelez’s traditional video investment, content and multicultural marketing in the U.S. and Canada. VaynerMedia will continue to manage Mondelez’s communications planning and digital buying in the U.S. and Canada. Mondelez has designated it the lead agency in those markets. WPP, for its part, will lead Mondelez’s business in Southeast Asia, India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Dentsu Media's Carat did not retain the business in any markets and a source close to the matter confirmed that it did not participate in the U.S. review and withdrew from the global review early on. Changes will become effective Sept. 1, although the brand will take a phased approach to transitioning agency responsibilities and expects to finalize the transitions by the end of this year. Slow consolidation Publicis is increasingly taking on more for Mondelez. The media review results come after multiple consolidations into Publicis. The brand streamlined its creative in 2019 with WPP and Publicis, with only a few brands working with agency partners outside those two holding companies. In 2020, Mondelez created a new model for content production with Publicis Groupe and Media.Monks in 2020. Publicis managed to walk away with 70% of the global business, up from the 30% it held previously, according to the source. It’s the largest review of the year, topping the Nike media review, which recently resulted in IPG’s Initiative and indie agency PMG coming out on top. COMvergence tracked media spend for Mondelez globally at $1.64 billion in 2021, with 45% of that spend coming digitally. The spend breaks down by region as $277 million in North America, $65 million in LATAM, $514 million in EMEA and APAC leads the way with $787 million in spend. The Europe business is a new net win for Publicis that includes Mondelez brands Milka, Lu and Cadbury. According to COMvergence, APAC is Mondelez’s fastest growing region for media spend, as the brand spent 41% more year over year. Spend in North America is up 17% year-over-year. Mondelez last reviewed its media business in 2018, when it added GroupM’s Wavemaker to the mix to manage more than half of its Europe business. Following the 2018 review, Dentsu’s Carat managed the rest of the European business. Previously, Publicis agency Spark Foundry managed media for the brand in the U.S. The global review will see the account move up to the group-level. Mondelez internal resources led this review and did not engage a pitch consultant. Publicis Media deferred comment to Mondelez. Dentsu Media, WPP and VaynerMedia did not comment on the results of the review by the time of this article’s publication. Publicis Groupe Leads Forrester’s Global Marketing Services Report