Colgate-Palmolive hires WPP to handle its Amazon business in Europe

Colgate-Palmolive has named WPP its “Amazon agency of record” for its European business, an unorthodox designation that nevertheless signals how more accounts are being consolidated in commerce and media. The advertising holding company will focus on helping Colgate-Palmolive’s oral, personal and home care businesses improve brand impact and sales on Amazon, through services including Amazon Retail, Integrated Amazon Advertising and Amazon’s clean room solutions. Omnicom-owned Flywheel previously held these responsibilities for Colgate-Palmolive’s European business, an industry source confirmed with Ad Age. Agency Review Tracker Stay up to date with the latest account reviews Click here Perhaps most notable about the Amazon AOR win, though, is its peculiarly specific title. Rarely has an agency been appointed to lead a client’s business on a single retailer such as Amazon. Commerce-specific AORs, for example, are largely the next closest designation. Colgate-Palmolive already uses WPP for a variety of services; WPP@CP (formerly Red Fuse) is a bespoke team dedicated to Colgate-Palmolive’s communications, VML provides services for its commerce business and GroupM’s Wavemaker handles its media duties. This consolidation is a wider trend for large consumer goods corporations. Unilever consolidated its commerce and media duties under Publicis several years ago, as did Kimberly-Clark last year. With a wider grip on Colgate-Palmolive’s workflow, WPP plans to bring the company more deeply into its Open platform. The brand hub can surface Amazon-specific insights by combining data with predictive technology afforded by WPP’s proprietary Amazon tech stack. There’s been a general trend, particularly within packaged goods, of consolidating commerce duties for brands and categories with a single holding company or holding company entity. Unilever, for example, consolidated its commerce account, including shopper marketing and retail media, with Publicis Groupe in 2021. (Unilever’s U.S. media account remains with WPP’s Mindshare, though that business is subject to a soon-to-conclude global review.) Kimberly-Clark Corp., which had previously had media with Mindshare and commerce marketing with other agencies, consolidated the entire account with Publicis Groupe late last year. Publicis-owned Profitero provides retail media and commerce analytics for Colgate-Palmolive Co., and that relationship is not affected by the move to WPP in Europe on Amazon.

Colgate-Palmolive hires WPP to handle its Amazon business in Europe

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