WPP’s Laurent Ezekiel to rejoin Publicis following Coca-Cola media move

New Delhi: Laurent Ezekiel, WPP’s chief marketing officer and chief executive of Open X, the agency network’s bespoke unit for Coca-Cola, is set to leave the company and return to Publicis Groupe, according to a report by Adweek.

Ezekiel’s departure comes months after Coca-Cola shifted its $700 million North America media business from WPP to Publicis in March. The report noted that Mars and Paramount have also moved media accounts away from WPP in recent months.

Ezekiel had originally joined WPP from Publicis in 2019. Following WPP’s global Coca-Cola win in 2021, he was appointed CEO of Open X, a customised model integrating talent across creative, media, production, social, influencer and other disciplines.

While Coca-Cola moved its North America media to Publicis, the beverage company announced in May that it had renewed other parts of its WPP partnership, including StudioX, a production hub that allows Coca-Cola to generate assets tailored for local markets.

According to the report, Arroyo said that Coca-Cola remained “confident” in the future of Open X and would work with WPP to identify a successor for Ezekiel. A WPP spokesperson confirmed that “a successor will be announced shortly.”

Ezekiel’s exit is the latest senior departure at WPP. Earlier this month, the holding group issued a profit warning amid weak client spending and a slowdown in new business. CEO Mark Read is set to step down in September, to be succeeded by Microsoft executive Cindy Rose.