Or, indeed, pitches of any size? Pepsico has moved its global media business to Publicis without a pitch – Surprising everyone, not least incumbent Omnicom – despite Publicis being the proud possessor of rival Coca-Cola’s North American media business, won without a pitch from the other member of the big three holding companies, WPP.
What’s more there’s no firm evidence yet that Coke is going to dump Publicis, possibly a sign that its US executives are happy with the way they are and disinclined to revert to the previous incumbent WPP.
This isn’t the way things are supposed to happen in adland. Big accounts are supposed to move following a lengthy and expensive courtship ritual involving endless meetings across continents and substantial fees paid paid to a seemingly endless list of conslutants and intermediaries. Some quite big companies depend on this for a living.
But what seems to be happening now is clients looking for far more than just advertising or media buying ability. Instead they require a suite of services that many do not possess (maybe because they’re not needed but that’s another story.) Publicis has obviously persuaded the market it has these, or more of them than its competitors, despite, for example, WPP’s trumpeting of its commitment to AI.
All of a sudden this big global market has come down to one and a small number of others chipping away around the edges. What’s amazing is that it isn’t an American company in the driving seat, as it is in most tech-driven markets.
