Dive Summary:
- When Publicis Groupe SA and Omnicom Group Inc. announced plans to merge, this week it paved the way for a global advertising powerhouse to take shape, but it also means that Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. would be sharing the same ad firm.
- Representatives from both companies remained silent on the issue when reached for comment by Bloomberg, though David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in New York, suggests that "Most advertisers will probably live with this because on some level they believe in the Chinese walls."
- Omnicom’s John Wren, who will serve as co-CEO in the new company alongside Publicis’s Maurice Levy, said that he had not heard any clients express dissatisfaction over the merger plans.
From the article:
... Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the world’s largest beverage companies, would be two of the highest-profile competitors brought together by the deal. Pepsi stepped up its offensive on Coke in the 1970s and ’80s, when its Pepsi Challenge campaign offered consumers taste tests of both drinks. Coca-Cola’s major campaigns, meanwhile, have included “Coke is it!” and “Always Coca-Cola.” ...