Wavemaker previously held the business and expanded its remit globally last year.
By Brian Bonilla, Ad Age. Published on December 12, 2022.
L’Oréal has chosen Omnicom Media Group as its U.S. media agency of record, the beauty company confirmed to Ad Age.
The U.S. account was previously handled by Wavemaker, which is part of WPP’s GroupM.
“After recently completing a strategic assessment of the media agency landscape, L’Oréal USA has selected Omnicom Group as our new agency of record for all media buying in the United States starting April 2023,” L’Oréal said in a statement to Ad Age. “We are grateful to GroupM for their partnership, dedication and exceptional service to our business over the last seven years and we look forward to building a strong partnership with Omnicom Group.”
The review was conducted by R3, according to multiple people close to the situation. R3 was not immediately available to comment.
“We are thrilled to announce L’Oréal USA has chosen Omnicom Media Group to be their modern marketing and media transformation partner,” Omnicom Media Group North America CEO Ralph Pardo wrote in an internal memo obtained by Ad Age. “They are home to some of the world’s most treasured and valued beauty brands and have built a well-earned reputation for being world-class marketers and a force in the marketplace with a media spend of $1B.”
OMG will create a bespoke solution to service the account.
Wavemaker had previously expanded its relationship with L’Oréal—whose brands include Maybelline, Garnier, CeraVe and its namesake L’Oréal—by adding 25 markets globally in August 2021. The WPP agency defended the U.S. business, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation.
“Wavemaker has been a strategic partner to L’Oréal U.S. since 2016, and together we’ve created incredible, award-winning work,” the agency said in a statement. “Seven years is a long time in today’s media and marketing world, and although we’re never happy to see a client leave us, we are proud to continue our global relationship with L’Oréal across 20+ other markets as we support their ambitious growth plans. We wish the L’Oréal USA team the very best of luck. ”
The U.S. is a large portion of the European brand’s business and marketing efforts. In 2021, L’Oréal spent $590 million on measured media, according to Kantar.
L’Oréal was ranked as the third largest advertiser in the world last week by Ad Age’s Datacenter, which estimated the French company’s global ad spending to be $12.5 billion last year.
