Coke trims European roster to four agencies

by Joe Thomas, marketingmagazine.co.uk 13-Jan-09, 15:30

LONDON - Coca-Cola has cut back on the number of agencies working on the European advertising account its flagship 'red' brand.

The business, estimated to be worth in excess of £100m, has cut back to four agencies from 20, in order to produce improved marketing strategies.

As reported in Marketing (22 July 2008) the reduction in agencies comes as part of a review of its global marketing strategy in a bid to save $400m-$500m (£200m-£250m) a year by the end of 2011, in the face of a consumer slowdown.

It is understood that the ad agencies of Mother London, Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam, McCann Erickson Spain and Senior Rushmore Madrid will remain on the roster. The agencies are believed to be being briefed later this month on the strategy behind the Coke Red European Agency Network.

A statement from Coca-Cola said: ‘We will continue to evolve our agency model to get the most compelling, effective and scalable work we can on behalf of our global brands. That may entail using fewer agencies overall, while instilling greater agency collaboration to drive truly integrated marketing communications.'