Abbott Laboratories consolidates media with Spark Foundry

Abbott Laboratories has consolidated its $300 million-plus media business in the U.S. and Canada with Publicis Media’s Spark Foundry, Ad Age has learned. The decision follows a client-led review, according to people close to the situation. The Abbott Labs business awarded to Publicis includes its nutrition care division that encompasses brands such as Ensure, Pedialyte, PediaSure and Similac. U.S. media for the nutrition business had previously been held by WPP-owned GroupM’s Mindshare, according to one person close to the business. Spark Foundry declined to comment. Abbott Labs did not respond to a request for comment. GroupM and Mindshare representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here Abbott Labs—which also markets medical devices, generic medications, medical devices and lab diagnostics—deploys more than half of its U.S. media budget toward promoting its nutrition brands, according to MediaRadar estimates. Publicis also handles creative for certain Abbott Labs brands, including PediaSure, and Spark Foundry has fielded media for Abbott’s Diabetes Care Division since 2016. WPP also still handles creative duties for certain Abbott Labs brands. Abbott Labs spent $305 million on measured media in the U.S. in 2024, with $188 million of that allocated to its nutrition brands that also include Glucerna, Juven, Protality and Vital, according to MediaRadar. That is up from the $275 million Abbott Labs spent on U.S. measured media in 2023, with $183 million of that spent on those Abbott Nutrition brands last year, per MediaRadar. The Abbott account shift underscores an intensifying rivalry between WPP and Publicis Groupe—the two have been closely vying for the title of the world’s No. 1 holding company by revenue, which WPP has held for decades. For 2024, Publicis posted net revenue growth of 5.8% while WPP reported a 1% decline in revenue less pass-through costs. (Of course, the pending Omnicom-Interpublic Group of Cos. merger will make Omnicom the world’s largest agency company, based on 2023 revenue figures compiled by Ad Age Datacenter.) It seems both WPP and Publicis have a somewhat long history with Abbott—the marketer has bounced its buying and planning business between the two holding companies over the last roughly two decades. In 2013, Abbott Laboratories split into two publicly-traded companies—creating AbbVie, the maker of research-based pharmaceutical products, and Abbott Labs, a health care company and producer of medical devices. Spark won AbbVie’s media account that year from WPP’s Mindshare, which had held it since 2010 after winning it from Publicis Media. It seems Mindshare had remained on Abbott Laboratories’ roster at the time. The Abbott shift marks another blow to WPP, while Publicis Media notches another win. Publicis Media, in fact, along with rival Omnicom Media Group, topped COMvergence’s rankings of global media new business wins last year. On Monday, Publicis picked up the bulk of LinkedIn’s media business, beating out Dentsu in a closed review. Last month, the French holding company won Coca-Cola Co., which shifted its North American media account from WPP following a closed review. On Tuesday, Ad Age reported that Publicis Groupe’s Leo won Subway’s U.S. creative business following a review. WPP did recently win a piece of Heineken’s business from Publicis, becoming the brewer’s global shopper marketing and commerce partner across its portfolio of brands.

Abbott Laboratories consolidates media with Spark Foundry

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