McDonald’s ends 32-year FIFA tie as Coca-Cola splits global media

A set of pitch decisions shows global advertisers redrawing media and creative scope market by market, asking agencies to prove their thinking earlier, and reviewing sponsorships by outcomes rather than tenure.

01 · Coca-Cola’s media map gets regional

WPP kept Coca-Cola’s global media account across most markets, but the account is no longer held by a single network. Omnicom picked up North America, while Dentsu continues to run Japan and South Korea, which were not part of the review.

For brand leaders, the split is the signal: a global account can now be a portfolio of regional mandates, each measured on local performance.

02 · Starbucks India chooses TBWA\Lintas

TBWA\Lintas has won the creative agency-of-record mandate for Starbucks India. The chain is working to build relevance in a growing Indian market, making local creative ownership the centre of the pitch.

For Indian marketers, this is the account move to watch: a global brand handing creative control to a local team at the moment its category is getting more crowded.

03 · Other moves in brief

• BMW Group reappointed Liganova Mash! to its global social account and expanded the agency remit to Mini, after a pitch that reportedly included Accenture Song, Jung von Matt and Havas.
• Lidl placed the largest share of its pan-European media account, worth more than $1 billion, with Omnicom Media.
• Atlassian Williams F1 Team has partnered with creative comms studio Whipped Cream for W50 Live, its 50-year anniversary live experience, set for February 2027.

04 · Virgin Atlantic wants films, not just credentials

The airline parted ways with Lucky Generals earlier this month and asked agencies to submit films at the request-for-information stage. A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said the process is “progressing well” and thanked agencies for “the time, thought and creativity they put into their RFI films”.

That asks for tangible work before a shortlist, which compresses the courtship and shows how an agency approaches the actual brand problem.

05 · McDonald’s ends a 32-year FIFA run

McDonald’s is walking away from its FIFA World Cup partnership after 32 years. The decision follows the chain’s largest World Cup activation to date, spanning more than 110 markets and positioned as its biggest campaign of the year.

The exit raises a sharper question for CMOs: is a long-running sponsorship a brand asset, or just a legacy cost unless it is tied to measurable outcomes?

The marketing take: scale now comes from choosing partners region by region, testing ideas early, and reviewing sponsorships by results, not history.

Source: Campaign India

Mad About Marketing Desk The strategists and writers at Mad About Marketing, writing up what we see in the work every week.