Mondelēz has reshuffled its global media assigments, awarding Publicis Groupe an estimated $500 million in additional spending for Europe. The food and beverage giant, which markets brands such as Cadbury, Oreo and Ritz crackers, spends a total of $1.6 billion globally, according to the company's most recent 10-K report.

"To lead the future of snacking, we are continuing to evolve our marketing approach to be more consumer-centric and digitally-enabled than ever before," a Mondelēz spokeswoman said. "Since our last media review in 2018, we have re-engineered our agency model across creative and production to deliver meaningful impact to the Mondelez business. After a careful review, we are proud to announce key media agency partners have been selected to build on this foundation and further accelerate our growth."

As part of the shift, Mondelez said that, effective Sept. 1, Publicis will handle Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and North African Peninsula, South Africa and China. That represents the addition of Europe, which was previously handled by WPP's Wavemaker and Dentsu's Carat, according to COMvergence. 

Publicis, said the Mondelēz spokeswoman, "will also manage traditional video investment, content and multicultural marketing in the U.S. and Canada."

With the move, it is estimated that Publicis will now control 70% of the client's total global media spending. 

Publicis declined to comment.

Vaynermedia, the Mondelēz spokeswoman said, "will continue to lead our communications planning and digital buying in the U.S. and Canada," while WPP has been appointed to lead its media business in Southeast Asia, India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

“Wavemaker has been a strategic partner to Mondelēz since 2019. We’re excited to continue this relationship across most of APAC: Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam—and disappointed not to be continuing our relationship across Germany and France," said a Wavemaker spokesperson.

"The extensive pitch process over the last six months involved a great deal of work, and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the contributors from across our formidable global network who did an outstanding job.”

Carat could not be reached for comment at press time.

The move represents another big media win for Publicis, which this year has picked up PepsiCo’s media in China, LVMH’s media in the U.K. and France and AB InBev’s global media. 

Contributing: Brian Bonilla and Judann Pollack