After a several months-long global review, streaming major Spotify has awarded its media account to Publicis Media. The Publicis Groupe-owned media investments firm has created a bespoke unit called Publicis OneVibe for the Spotify business. Following the global realignment, Publicis Media in India will handle the streamer's media mandate. Storyboard18 broke the global exclusive story and was the first to report on the pitch's conclusion, the winning ad firm and details of the pitch finalists on February 1.
As reported previously, India was not part of the global pitch after the streamer called for a review of its $240 million global media account in 2023. The global contest had come down to two ad holding company groups - Omnicom and Publicis. The incumbent is IPG Mediabrands' UM.
Spotify's media spends in India are to the tune of ₹100 crore, although some industry estimates suggest it is in the range of ₹50-200 crore. The media spend, however, is heavily skewed towards digital.
The global review was led by Spotify's US office, its primary market, which gave the mandate to Publicis Groupe. Insiders had told Storyboard18 that India was not part of the review. The account comes to Publicis Groupe's India kitty from IPG Mediabrands-owned Lodestar UM. Spotify and UM split after almost a seven-year partnership.
In India, Spotify's creative duties are handled by another Publicis Groupe agency Leo Burnett.
The addition of Spotify to the French advertising holding group's client roster makes this the second mega media account that Publicis Groupe in India has bagged following a global realignment.
In June 2022, after an intense three-month long multi-agency pitch, Publicis Groupe-owned creative agency Leo Burnett India won PepsiCo India's mandate from WPP-owned Wunderman Thompson (now VML).
PepsiCo's long-time agency partners WPP's Wunderman Thompson and its media stablemate Mindshare did not participate in the 2022 pitch.
WPP's move followed beverage juggernaut Coca-Cola's decision to hand over the lion’s share of its $4 billion business to WPP, which essentially led its aligned agencies to resign from Pepsi's account in India. Even if WPP agencies were invited to the PepsiCo pitch they couldn't have participated because Coke wouldn't allow it, said an ad executive familiar with the matter, to Storyboard18 for a previous story on the PepsiCo pitch, win and loss.
