This week started with a bang when WPP announced Monday that CEO Mark Read would be stepping down at the end of the year.
Whether the beleaguered leader of what was formerly the world’s largest marketing services holding company had gotten wind that the big Mars pitch result due to be announced Tuesday had not gone WPP’s way, or whether it was just clearing the decks before Cannes, his stepping down wasn’t exactly a great surprise. There had been rumors for months about a headhunter brief for the top role being out in the market.
Taking over from former CEO Martin Sorrell was always going to be a tough assignment when the iconic founder left WPP under a cloud in 2018. Sorrell didn’t leave the company he founded 33 years prior in great shape, but his shadow loomed over every part of an operation that had swollen massively in size.
Read set about rationalizing that and got rid of 300 agency brands and closed around 800 offices around the world. He sunsetted iconic marques such as J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam, Wunderman and Grey Advertising.
But the market capitalization of WPP has shrunk to almost a quarter of that of its new main rival, Publicis Groupe, and Mars was the latest in a string of high-profile media pitches it had lost to the French-based holding company in recent months, adding to the likes of Coca-Cola and Paramount.
Mars also wanted to get the news about the result of its Snacking and Petcare media and earned media review out before Cannes, so the conversations along Le Croisette wouldn’t be dominated by speculation about the biggest pitch of the year.
As well as Publicis, the pitch also spelled great news for The Weber Shandwick Collective, which won the battle to be named single global agency across all the work for Mars brands in those two categories.
In a fascinating conversation with PRWeek’s Diana Bradley, Mars’ VP of corporate affairs and sustainability Andy Pharoah said: “Weber Shandwick has been a longterm partner. They did the most brand PR work for us within the U.S. and wider North America. We are trying to do this globally with a single agency partner.”
“They stood out for their ability to match the scale of our ambition,” he added. “They also have a mindset that aligns with our brand-building philosophy: global in vision, local in voice and culturally fluent by design. And they have been a partner for over 20 years. They were part of the agency team that launched the Pedigree Adoption drive and on Skittles Littles.”
Edelman was the big loser. It will no longer handle any of Mars’ brand PR, though it retains its corporate work across the company.
“We’ve worked with Mars in various capacities for 50 years and I anticipate we will continue to do so, and we will continue to try to grow the business as we have for two generations now,” Edelman CEO Richard Edelman told PRWeek.
WPP’s Burson didn’t have any of Mars’ work but had an ultimately unsuccessful swing at the earned media pitch anyway, no small investment in time, resources and money given the scope of the process across several months and several continents. But, essentially, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Pharoah expanded on Mars’ intention, once details are ironed out, to potentially get help from other IPG PR firms in time.
“We are starting with The Weber Shandwick Collective, and that is who works with us and who pitched,” he explained. “But as this develops and as we find what is the best in every market in support of our core brands, we are open to a broader approach across IPG.”
Publicis will handle media production, connected commerce, paid influencer and paid social work for Mars. The review did not include creative, which is handled by Omnicom’s BBDO and DDB, which could become another element in the choice of Weber for earned media.
“Omnicom is our retained creative agency,” said Pharoah. “If the acquisition goes ahead, IPG will become part of Omnicom. If you look at our partners, any PR agency worth their salt has a record of successfully working with other agencies in the marketing mix that can sometimes be part of the same holding company or different holding companies.”
In what was likely another example of companies getting ahead of the narrative before Cannes, Omnicom and Interpublic Group leaders apparently congregated in New York City this week to have early stage discussions about what the combined holding company would look like should the John Wren-led entity’s acquisition of IPG pass regulators and complete in H2 2025.
No doubt there will be plenty of chat about all these stories on the Côte d’Azur next week anyway. But at least the conclusion of the narratives are either out in the open or consistent messaging points will have been agreed upon.
And given the pace of change in the industry and massive amount of content, campaigns, discussion and creativity on display, there will be plenty of other topics to dominate the headlines. You can see my Cannes preview here in a segment broadcast yesterday on NYSE TV.
PRWeek and Campaign will be there onsite to track all of these trends and more. See you on Le Croisette, or you can keep up with what’s going on remotely via our excellent news teams back in New York City.
A bientot!
