WPP has been named as The Coca-Cola Company’s global marketing network partner as part of a relationship that will span more than 200 markets around the world. Following an intense pitch process, that began in December 2020, WPP’s MediaCom was finally selected and will start its work on 1 January 2022.
“This is a fantastic effort by our teams over a nine-month pitch who helped demonstrate what MediaCom stands for as a media agency: A brilliant group of talented, inquisitive, creative, and inclusive people that will help them see the bigger picture and drive transformation for the company,” said Nick Lawson, CEO of MediaCom.
The company put together experts across creative, media, and data as part of a bespoke team, called OpenX, to win the global task. MediaCom will be the global media agency for OpenX, covering all markets except Korea and Japan.
Asked about the local market, Ashish Williams, CEO of MediaCom SA, said: “The localisation of global campaigns will be a crucial part in MediaCom’s role to ensure this well-recognised global brand remains true to its individual roots in each country, including South Africa.”
Adding to this sentiment, Claudelle Naidoo, MediaCom SA’s managing director, said that she believed that MediaCom South Africa’s localised insights would allow for unparalleled connected consumer experiences moving forward.
“Our benchmark-setting systems, such as the recently launched Systems Acceleration, were all developed to be catalysts for localised brand transformation and growth. Our ability to take extremely complicated data sets and extract deep, authentic insights that can be strategically harnessed is a very powerful advantage to offer our clients,” Naidoo said.
These words echo those of Manolo Arroyo, global chief marketing officer for The Coca-Cola Company. “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.” He adds that the 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 optimised real-time, at scale, as we learn from consumers.”
For MediaCom SA, the Coca-Cola brand joins an ever-expanding list of new business wins that were secured during 2020 and 2021, such as Mahindra, Bayer, and Uber.
