Coca-Cola is launching a high-stakes global media agency review. WPP and Publicis Groupe will compete for billions in ad spend. North America, Japan, and Korea are not included. The outcome could reshape agency partnerships worldwide. Industry players are watching closely.
Media professionals and content strategists are watching closely as The Coca-Cola Co. initiates a sweeping international media agency review, a move that could redefine agency relationships and spending patterns across key global markets. The review, which excludes North America, Japan, and Korea, puts WPP and Publicis Groupe head-to-head for a significant share of Coca-Cola’s estimated $1.7 billion media spend outside the US and Canada.
This process, managed with the support of consultant MediaSense, is set to kick off in July and wrap up by autumn. The stakes are high: Coca-Cola’s last global review in 2021 led to WPP securing a consolidated marketing assignment and the creation of the bespoke WPP Open X unit. Now, with the five-year contract cycle up for renewal, both incumbent agencies are under pressure to demonstrate their capabilities in media, data science, and technology across Coca-Cola’s top international markets.
Notably, the North American business—worth around $800 million and recently shifted from WPP to Publicis Groupe—remains outside the scope of this review, as do Japan and Korea, where Dentsu continues to hold the reins. Coca-Cola’s global ad spend reached $5.4 billion in 2025, underscoring the scale and influence of this decision for agency partners and the broader media ecosystem.
Coca-Cola has signaled a shift toward a digital-first marketing approach, emphasizing the need for partners who can leverage emerging technologies and agentic tools to reach consumers in new ways. The review is designed to test which agency can best support this evolution, focusing on future-ready strategies rather than traditional media planning. Creative and PR assignments remain with WPP Open X and are not part of the current review.
For those navigating the intersection of content, technology, and revenue, this review is more than a routine contract renewal—it’s a bellwether for how global brands are rethinking their media investments and agency partnerships in a rapidly changing landscape.
WPP Open X, the dedicated unit created for Coca-Cola’s consolidated marketing needs, has become a model for integrated agency-client collaboration. Its formation in 2021 marked a significant shift in how major brands approach cross-discipline marketing, blending creative, media, production, and data under one roof. As the industry moves toward more digital and data-driven strategies, the outcome of Coca-Cola’s latest review could influence how other global advertisers structure their agency relationships in the years ahead.
