WPP has created a cross-agency team to retain the Unilever business, and IPG's Advantage Marketing was also invited to pitch, the person said.
Unilever and Advantage Marketing did not respond to requests for comment. A WPP spokeswoman declined to comment.Ad giants like WPP and Horizon lay out the bets they're making on e-commerce advertising as online shopping soars in the pandemic Several insiders said they expect other e-commerce-focused pitches to heat up in coming months and years.
"In every brief during COVID, which has been our busiest period ever, the number one thing in the brief is 'Talk to us about your e-commerce credentials,'" said one agency CEO. "It used to be 'Tell us about your China footprint.' Unilever is known to regularly schedule regional pitches as part of a process where it tries to reduce costs by getting agencies to agree to stricter payment terms. In one such recent example, WPP beat out rival Omnicom to win Unilever's media-buying in China.Unilever also has taken more of its advertising in-house through its U-Studio to cut costs, which has meant assigning fewer projects to the big holding companies.