Coca-Cola Keeps WPP Open X for India and Global Media, Hands North America to Omnicom

The Coca-Cola Company has kept WPP Open X as its media agency for India and most international markets after a global review, and has picked Omnicom for its North American media business, the company announced on 22 October 2026 (US time). The new arrangements will be rolled out in phases from 1 December 2026, Mediaweek reported.

For India, nothing changes at the agency level: WPP Open X, the dedicated unit WPP built for Coca-Cola, continues to plan and buy its media here, BestMediaInfo reported. Neither the company nor the reports disclosed the size of the account or any change to the Indian team.

Who gets what

• WPP Open X: global media everywhere except North America, Japan and South Korea. It also stays Coca-Cola's global creative partner; creative was not part of the review.
• Omnicom: media in North America, working with WPP StudioX, Coca-Cola's creative production unit there. Its brief combines media, data, customer relationship management, loyalty and creator programmes in one system.
• Dentsu: keeps media in Japan and South Korea, which were outside the review.

WPP has handled Coca-Cola's marketing in more than 200 countries and territories since Open X was set up in 2021, according to a company statement carried by Investing.com. Manolo Arroyo, Coca-Cola's chief marketing and customer commercial officer, said "WPP delivered a stellar performance during the reviews", Mediaweek reported.

Why North America moved

Publicis Groupe had won Coca-Cola's US and Canada media business from WPP in March 2025. After Publicis became PepsiCo's global media agency in September 2026, it stepped away from Coca-Cola's media business because of the competing account, which led to the Omnicom appointment, according to BestMediaInfo. The review, run with consultancy MediaSense, coincided with the renewal of WPP's five-year global contract signed in November 2021, the same report said.

The outcome keeps one of the world's largest advertisers with WPP outside North America and gives Omnicom a high-profile win in the US. For Publicis, which is buying data company LiveRamp, the PepsiCo mandate came at the price of its Coca-Cola work.

What it means for Indian agencies and media owners

Coca-Cola is a heavy advertiser on Indian television and digital platforms, especially in the summer and cricket seasons. Continuity with WPP Open X means broadcasters, platforms and publishers keep dealing with the same buying team through the festive season and the planning cycle for 2027.

The decision also confirms a wider pattern seen in India and abroad: large global advertisers are folding media, data and loyalty into a single operating model rather than buying channel by channel. Earlier global consolidations, such as LinkedIn moving its media to Publicis and Omnicom's acquisition of Interpublic, which India's competition regulator cleared, also reshaped Indian agency offices through global decisions.