WPP has emerged victorious from one of the largest pitches ever as Coca-Cola hands the lion’s share of its $4 billion account to the holding company.  

Coca-Cola on Monday confirmed that WPP will be its “global marketing network partner” operating under a bespoke unit called OpenX. The team will manage creative, media, data and marketing technology across Coca-Cola’s entire portfolio of brands and its global ventures, including Costa and Innocent. 

In a press release, Coca-Cola described the relationship with WPP as “unprecedented” in its breadth and depth, as well as for the industry “given its geographical scale and reach.”  The relationship will kick off effective immediately. 

“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,” said Manolo Arroyo, global chief marketing officer for The Coca-Cola Company, in a press statement. “I am delighted to  be partnering with WPP as we accelerate our marketing transformation.” 

He added: “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.” 

Mark Read, CEO of WPP said: “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.” 

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