Publicis Groupe wins lion’s share of Mondelez International’s $1.7bn media business
Mondelez, the US-based confectioner which owns brands including Cadbury, Oreo, Toblerone, Milka and Philadelphia, has completed a global media review and awarded the lion’s share to Publicis Groupe, with WPP and VaynerMedia also taking a slice.
Publicis is now thought to handle around 70% of the whole account, up from 30% before the review. The process was managed at holding company level and Publicis has now created a Power of One solution, drawing on different agencies, to run its Mondelez business.
Much of Publicis’ new business comes from Europe, where the group added around $450 million of billings, including the UK and Italy (won from Dentsu’s Carat), as well as France and Germany, from WPP’s Wavemaker).
Wavemaker says: “Wavemaker has been a strategic partner to Mondelez since 2019. We’re excited to continue this relationship across most of APAC: Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – and disappointed not to be continuing our relationship across Germany and France.”
As well as winning Mondelez media in Europe, the French group has also won video, content and multicultural in the US and Canada, where VaynerMedia holds on to comms planning and digital buying.
Publicis retains its Mondelez business in China, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, while WPP will run media in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, India, and Japan.
On the creative side, the last Mondelez review was in 2019, when WPP (led by Ogilvy) won chocolate, candy, powdered beverages and cheese, while Publicis (led by Digitas) won biscuits and gum. Production has been split between Publicis and Media.Monks since 2020.
