In a year of uncertainty—with questions about supply chains, the future of work, diversity, vaccines, NFTs and the metaverse—there was at least one thing that the industry could bank on: massive account reviews. Here are a dozen of the most notable reviews of the year.

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola wrapped up one of the biggest reviews of the year when it chose WPP to handle its media, creative and data across more than 200 countries. The 11-month long review was overseen by consultants Mediasense for media and PricewaterhouseCoopers for creative, and involved hundreds of meetings and involvement by top-level holding company executives. It included pitches from Dentsu and Interpublic Group of Cos. in addition to Accenture Interactive, which was eliminated early on. 

Read more: WPP wins Coca-Cola’s massive agency review

Ultimately the review for the 17th largest advertiser in the world according to Ad Age’s Datacenter only had one other finalist, Publicis Groupe. Dentsu walked away with media responsibilities in Japan and Korea, leaving WPP with 90% of the media business. The holding company is forming a bespoke team called OpenX to handle the account.

Walmart

In August, Walmart handed its U.S. media account to Publicis Groupe following a review for the business previously handled by WPP-backed Haworth. In 2017, Walmart moved its media account to Haworth, which is owned 49% by WPP, from Publicis Groupe’s Mediavest. While spending and agency revenue weren’t disclosed, Walmart had all-in 2020 advertising spending of $2.4 billion, according to the Ad Age Datacenter, of which $514 million was measured media, according to Kantar. 

Read more: Walmart unveils new ad marketplace designed for a post-cookie internet

Meta

Rarely does a review start for a company that ends up becoming an entirely new company at the finish line. In early November Facebook wrapped up its review, naming Publicis Groupe's Spark Foundry as media agency of record after a seven-month process to handle global media planning and buying partners across its brand portfolio. But the week prior to the review's end, Meta became the new corporate identity for Facebook following a sweeping rebrand. Meta, which has a yearly marketing budget of close to $1 billion, and its fair share of critics, launched its first brand campaign that same week.

Read more: Meta debuts first brand campaign since changing its name from Facebook

T-Mobile

T-Mobile started the year with a splash by awarding Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative its media business following a review that started in September of last year. According to people close to the matter, Initiative was the only newcomer in the review, beating out incumbents GroupM's Essence, Horizon Media and Publicis Media. According to Ad Age's Datacenter, the mobile communications conglomerate spent $2.3 billion on measured media in the U.S. in 2019. The review, which was managed by ID Comms, also included its Sprint business.

Read more: T-Mobile awards Initiative its $2 billion U.S. media business

Inspire Brands

In February, Inspire Brands, the owner of Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’ and other restaurant chains, picked Publicis Groupe as its media agency of record. Publicis created a new unit, Inspire Media Engine, to handle the account. Inspire Media Engine will be led by Zenith and Digitas. In all, external billings on the Inspire Brands family of chains total roughly $600 million, according to COMvergence data.

Read more: Restaurant giant Inspire Brands picks Publicis Groupe as media agency of record

Dunkin'

In mid-November Dunkin' named Anomaly as its creative agency of record following a pitch that started in August. This moved the account from BBDO, the incumbent that won the business in 2018. In 2020, Dunkin’s U.S. ad spending totaled about $442 million, according to Ad Age Datacenter estimates.

This marked the latest change the No. 2 coffee chain behind Starbucks has gone through in just a few years. When Dunkin’ began working with BBDO as its creative agency three years ago, it ended the chain's 20-year run with Hill Holliday, which introduced the tagline "America Runs on Dunkin'" in 2006 and declined to participate in the 2018 review. Later in 2018, Dunkin’ announced it was officially dropping “Donuts” from its name. 

Anomaly's initial work for Dunkin’ is expected to debut in 2022.

Read more: Dunkin’ picks Anomaly as its creative agency

Home Depot

In April, Home Depot chose BBDO as its creative agency of record after a six-month review. BBDO replaced The Richards Group, which was ditched by Home Depot last October after 25 years. In January, Ad Age reported that the selection had been narrowed to BBDO and Leo Burnett. The retailer was one of the numerous significant brands that moved on from the Texas-based agency following a racist remark that was made by its founder last year. Home Depot spent $1.1 billion on advertising for the year ended Feb. 2020, a 3% increase over the prior year, according to Ad Age’s Datacenter, which ranks the chain as the 43rd largest advertiser in the U.S. 

Read more: The Home Depot names BBDO its new agency of record

Chanel

In October, Chanel moved its global media account, worth $500 million, to Omnicom Media Group from WPP following a review, as the global prestige fragrance and luxury fashion marketer continues to rebound from pandemic-induced struggles. The OMG-wide unit serving Chanel resides inside PHD. A Chanel-specific unit of WPP’s GroupM agency executives, originally formed in 2013, had previously handled the account, which had been in WPP’s hands for more than 20 years.

Read more: Chanel moves $500 million global media account to Omnicom from WPP

Stellantis

In April, Publicis Groupe won the global media account for Stellantis, the automaker formed by the merger earlier this year of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot maker PSA Group. The holding company was the incumbent on the FCA portion of the business, which includes Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Fiat, Chrysler and Alfa Romeo. WPP was the incumbent for PSA, whose brands include Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall. Stellantis has 14 auto brands under its wing following the $52 billion merger, which was finalized in January.  Ad Age Datacenter estimates that Stellantis in 2020 spent an estimated $4.2 billion on worldwide advertising on a pro forma basis including the former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group.

Read more: Global automaker Stellantis consolidates media account with Publicis

Unilever

In September, WPP’s Mindshare retained Unilever’s U.S. media account but lost assignments in Canada and several European markets to Omnicom’s PHD and new Unilever roster entrant Havas in a global media review.

Unilever—marketer of brands including Dove, Axe, Degree and Ben & Jerry’s—reported $8.4 billion in global brand and marketing investment last year, and it spent $1.5 billion in the U.S. on advertising, according to the Ad Age Datacenter. The company ranked 28th among U.S. ad spenders and fifth globally in the most recent Datacenter rankings, ranking highest in key markets of Europe, Asia and Latin America.  

In this review, Omnicom picked up Canada, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from WPP, plus North Africa and Middle East accounts from Interpublic’s Initiative. PHD also retained assignments in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Havas joined Unilever’s media roster, picking up assignments in France and Spain from WPP. Interpublic’s Initiative held assignments in Russia, Greece, Belarus and Ukraine. And Japan’s ADK retained Unilever’s media assignment there.

Read more: WPP keeps Unilever U.S. media business as Omnicom and Havas gain elsewhere

KFC

In September, KFC started two separate reviews for its media and creative accounts. The incumbent, Wieden+Kennedy Portland, held the account since 2015 and is no longer participating in the review. Shops initially in contention for the creative account include FCB, Johannes Leonardo, Mullen, Fig and Arnold, while Publicis Groupe’s Spark Foundry, WPP’s Wavemaker, and IPG’s UM were vying for the media assignment. One of the questions raised throughout the process has been the likelihood that the finger lickin' good chicken brand would keep its Colonel Sanders character moving forward. Complicating the process, the Yum Brands chain brought on Nintendo veteran Nick Chavez as its chief marketing officer in the middle of the review.

Read more: Will Colonel Sanders survive KFC’s marketing overhaul?

AB InBev

The last review on this list is also currently ongoing. In September Anheuser-Busch InBev launched a global media agency review but only invited incumbents, setting up a showdown among Dentsu, Publicis Groupe and WPP. The world’s largest brewer spent an estimated $4.7 billion on advertising in 2020, according to the Ad Age Datacenter. AB InBev ranks as the world’s 11th-largest advertiser. It markets brands including Budweiser and Stella Artois globally, as well as Corona outside the U.S.

The move came seven months after AB InBev hired Publicis Groupe’s Epsilon as its data agency of record in the U.S. and a global data partner. 

Read more: AB InBev starts global media agency review

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.