The recent media agency reviews by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo highlight how data-driven strategies are transforming the global media agency market. WPP and Omnicom's success with Coca-Cola can be attributed to their distinct data approaches. WPP Media's Open Intelligence uses a federated data strategy, leveraging multiple signals without relying on personally identifiable information. This approach is particularly effective in regulated markets like the European Union and Asia Pacific, where data collection is restricted.
On the other hand, Omnicom's Audience Broker strategy focuses on identifying and activating audiences using proprietary identity graphs. This method is advantageous in markets with lax privacy regulations, such as North America. Publicis Groupe, dentsu, and Omnicom have all adopted this ID-based data strategy, making it a key factor in Coca-Cola's North American media assignment to Omnicom.
The media agency cola wars also reveal broader trends in the industry. The global media agency market is consolidating at the top but expanding at the base, with players like Havas Media, Horizon Global, and Stagwell Media offering global media services. Marketing operating systems, which combine technology, data, workflows, and human expertise, are becoming foundational to services delivery. These systems have evolved significantly since Coca-Cola's initial review in 2021, with platforms like WPP Open, Omnicom's Omni, and dentsu.Connect leading the way.
Forrester will release a deep assessment of the top players in the global agency marketplace on November 4, 2026. The report will show how scale is being redefined, how platforms are now part of the organizational model, and how agentic media is coming quickly. This assessment comes after a series of agency reviews and withdrawals, including Publicis Groupe's withdrawal from the Coca-Cola review to accept PepsiCo's media assignment without a review.