WPP keeps Coca-Cola global media account after 2026 review

A review that ended before it produced a winner

Coca-Cola launched a formal global media review on 4 June 2026, timed to the five-year renewal cycle of its OpenX partnership with WPP.^[3] On paper, the review covered most of the company's top markets and put billions in media spend up for contest. In practice, it was over before it produced a winner.

On 3 September 2026, PepsiCo confirmed it had appointed Publicis Groupe as its global media partner.^[4] Publicis immediately withdrew from the Coca-Cola review. A holding company cannot run media for Pepsi and pitch for Coke simultaneously, the conflict of interest being too direct, and so the only serious challenger exited the room and left WPP as the sole remaining bidder.

What WPP is holding onto

WPP's OpenX team handles nearly all of The Coca-Cola Company's media worldwide, spanning more than 200 markets, five categories and nine geographical operating units.^[2] The partnership was built as a bespoke unit: creative, media, data and technology services integrated under one roof rather than parcelled across separate agencies. That model dates to November 2021, when Coca-Cola and WPP announced what was described at the time as the largest agency pitch in industry history.^[1]

Coca-Cola's then-Global Chief Marketing Officer Manolo Arroyo framed the original appointment around integration. "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," Arroyo said.^[1] WPP Chief Executive Mark Read said WPP was "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."^[1]

What was never on the table

The 2026 review was limited to media. Coca-Cola confirmed that global creative and PR disciplines would remain with WPP OpenX regardless of outcome.^[3] That carve-out tells you how far Coca-Cola was willing to test the market: the company wanted confirmation, or a better deal, on media buying, not a structural overhaul of its marketing model. WPP's creative and PR relationships were never at risk.

The cola market has now sorted itself on both sides. Pepsi moves to Publicis; Coke stays with WPP. Two of the world's largest advertisers, two of the world's largest holding companies, and a clean split between them.

Australia: EssenceMediacom holds the local brief

In Australia, Coca-Cola's media buying sits with EssenceMediacom, the WPP agency that handles the account locally under the OpenX global structure. The arrangement mirrors how WPP delivers the partnership elsewhere: a global framework with regional execution through WPP's owned networks. EssenceMediacom's local brief was not subject to the review and carries forward under the retained global mandate.

For Australian media buyers and Coca-Cola brand teams here, the practical outcome changes nothing. The same agency holds the same brief. Publicis is now formally in the Pepsi camp, which makes the cola account divide between the two holding companies something that could hold for another five years.