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The Coca-Cola Company has named WPP as Global Marketing Network Partner to play a key role in executing a new marketing model that is built to drive long-term growth for the entire company’s portfolio of brands across more than 200 countries and territories.
Coca-Cola’s new, integrated agency model is part of an aggressive agenda to transform and modernize marketing and innovation as key drivers of the company’s profitable growth. “Consumers respond to an entire experience – they don’t separate the message from the medium – and that’s why we’ve designed an agency model to be truly consumer-centric and silo-free,” said Manolo Arroyo, global chief marketing officer for The Coca-Cola Company. “This model is about seamless integration of the power of big, bold ideas and creativity within experiences, amplified by media and data. It will enable us to create end-to-end experiences that are grounded in data-rich insights and optimized real-time, at scale, as we learn from consumers.”
The new agency model has four components:
A Global Marketing Network Partner to manage end-to-end creative, media, data and marketing technology, across the whole portfolio.
A Complementary Media Partner to bring differentiated capabilities in select markets.
A Strategic Roster of approved agencies to provide access to the best creative minds, regardless of their location or affiliation.
A common data and technology platform that connects marketing teams of five global categories, nine operating units, Global Ventures and Platform Services to the Global Marketing Network Partner, Complementary Media Partner and Strategic Roster.
Global Marketing Network Partner
OpenX, the bespoke WPP team, will provide end-to-end capabilities across creative, media and data to serve as the Global Marketing Network Partner for Coca-Cola’s brands. The breadth and depth of the partnership is unprecedented for Coca-Cola and is expected to be a catalyst in the transformation of marketing effectiveness and efficiency. It is also unprecedented for the industry, given its scale and geographical reach, including more than 200 countries and territories; the company’s five-category beverage portfolio; and Global Ventures, including innocent and Costa.
“As we designed our new marketing operating model, it became increasingly clear that simplicity was critical to successfully operating a vast geographical and diversified business network, which also includes our bottling system,” Arroyo said. “I am delighted to be partnering with WPP as we accelerate our marketing transformation. We were impressed by WPP’s ability to balance what it takes to deliver integrated consumer experiences at a global scale with the agility, speed and data-driven insights that are required to win locally. WPP will bring creative excellence and unparalleled marketing capabilities at a global scale that no other network can deploy.”
“We are delighted to be appointed as The Coca-Cola Company’s Global Marketing Network Partner, a catalyst for its transformation and growth, and to bring the outstanding creativity, data-rich insights and media expertise needed to create connected consumer experiences,” said Mark Read, CEO of WPP. “This partnership, integrating our capabilities across content, media, data, production and technology, operating locally and globally, will complement The Coca-Cola Company’s globally networked organization. It’s unparalleled in our industry in terms of breadth and depth of capabilities, and reflects WPP’s scale and reach around the world. I’d like to thank Manolo Arroyo and his teams in taking this bold step with WPP. Our success in the industry’s biggest-ever pitch is testament to the talent and hard work of hundreds of people across WPP and our agencies, and to the strength of our simple, integrated offer to clients.”
WPP will handle nearly all of The Coca-Cola Company’s media worldwide (eight of its nine geographical operating units – every market except Japan) and the large majority of its creative work. We will also be responsible for production, data, technology and social globally. Our work will span all of the company’s 200-plus markets, five categories and nine geographical operating units. The Coca-Cola Company was looking for a partner who was able to build its brands in the digital age and transform its marketing for the future, and our data and technology capabilities through Choreograph were a critical factor in our success.
In Kenya, WPP is represented by Ogilvy Africa, Scanad & JWT, Squad Digital, Group M Africa, MediaCom, Mindshare, Geomery and Wavemaker; all under the WPP – Scangroup banner.
