Sephora sends $250 million North American media account to Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe won Sephora's North American media account following a review launched in November 2019. Publicis Groupe declined to comment and spokespeople for the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton beauty retailer did not immediately return requests for comment. Campaign first reported the win. According to one person close to the business, the account will be serviced by a holding company solution led by Digitas. The person said Epsilon, the data-marketing giant Publicis bought for $4.4 billion last year, will also be involved. A second person close to the account estimated that the business is worth approximately $250 million. According to COMvergence estimates, Sephora spends $14 million on measured media annually in the U.S. Ad Age first learned of Sephora's North American review after obtaining its invite to pitch sent to agencies on Nov. 25, 2019. The pitch said the review would begin immediately and last for "approximately four months." The document said that the U.S. portion of the review will cover media strategy, planning and buying for all media channels excluding addressable TV. In Canada, the invite said that the review spans strategy, planning and buying for all media channels supporting only its e-commerce business, sephora.ca. Global management consultancy ID Comms managed the review, according to the invite. Several people close to the review said Omnicom, Horizon and Dentsu Aegis Network competed against Publicis Groupe for the account. According to one person close to the business, Dentsu Aegis most recently was managing nearly 10 percent of Sephora's overall North American billings and the remainder was spread across various other agencies. A Dentsu Aegis Network spokesperson declined comment. The review did not affect other LVMH brands including Dom Pérignon, Benefit Cosmetics, Marc Jacobs and Céline. It comes slightly more than a year after the French luxury goods conglomerate chose Dentsu to handle North American buying and planning duties across all brands including Sephora. That decision followed a review that was also handled by ID Comms and concluded in August of 2018. At that time, Dentsu took the business away from Havas Media, which had previously worked with LVMH for nearly decade.

Sephora sends $250 million North American media account to Publicis Groupe

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