PepsiCo India is altering its entire network of WPP Group-owned ad and media buying agencies, including Wunderman Thompson and Mindshare, following rival Coca-Cola’s signing on with WPP as its global partner.
This brings to an end more than three decades of association between the world’s largest advertising group, WPP, and Pepsi India. India is among the few countries where WPP Group agencies represent PepsiCo. PepsiCo, maker of Pepsi and Mountain Dew drinks and Lays snacks, is among the bigger spenders on advertising.
The impending change comes amid a crucial soft drink season as summer-centric companies step up advertising and marketing after two consecutive COVID-19 summers.
PepsiCo India’s overall annual ad spend is close to ₹350 crore, and it has begun running a mandate for ad agency pitches.
PepsiCo India follows a re-pitching cycle every few years for agencies and partners working on our brand mandates. This year, Wunderman Thompson and Mindshare will not be participating in the process. “
Last November, Coca-Cola named WPP as its global marketing network partner for its $4 billion business. At that time, Coca-Cola said WPP would be its “global marketing network partner” operating under a bespoke unit called OpenX, and added that the WPP team would manage creative, media, data, and marketing technology across Coca-Cola’s entire portfolio of brands and its global ventures, including Costa Coffee.
While there was a chance that India would be an exception, it became clear that PepsiCo would need to change its agencies.Despite the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, consumption habits have altered and driving in-home consumption is equally significant as out-of-home, which means advertising has to be oriented to both, the executive mentioned above said.