• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 10, 2015

L’Oreal USA, part of the French cosmetics and beauty company, has selected WPP’s MEC to its new U.S. media agency, the firms confirmed Thursday. The award came after a comprehensive media planning and buying review that began in April. 

The cosmetics giant spends nearly $1 billion on measured media in the U.S., according to Kantar. 

MEC’s scope of work includes agency of record duties for integrated media planning and buying of TV, print and digital. UM, part of Interpublic’s IPG Mediabrands, is the incumbent for TV and print buying. Publicis Groupe’s DigitasLBi handles digital buying.

For UM, the L'Oreal loss is a blow, but it has won significant pieces of new business recently, including consolidating the global Johnson & Johnson account and winning back the North America Coca-Coca business after losing it to MediaVest more than a decade ago. It also recently won McCormick, the spice company. 

Internally, the L'Oreal review was overseen by Nadine McHugh, SVP Omnimedia, strategic investments and creative solutions, L’Oreal USA. She joined the company last fall from Colgate-Palmolive. Earlier, she oversaw the Unilever account at GroupM’s Mindshare, part of WPP. 

Commenting on the review’s completion McHugh said, “MEC brings a shared vision for the future of our ever-changing business, strong digital expertise and leadership with truly integrated teams built for us, and the tools and technology to develop Omnimedia solutions. Combined with the buying power of GroupM, we believe that we’ve found the perfect partner to help us co-create the future of beauty along with our media partners.”

Added Marla Kaplowitz, CEO, MEC North America: “It was apparent from the onset that our two companies share many of the same values and ambitions for growth. Our agency’s data and insights-led planning approach to media will ensure each brand’s vision is fully realized as we partner to further define the future of marketing.” 

It’s been a big week for big review decisions. On Monday, Procter & Gamble concluded its $2.6 billion North American review, shifting the bulk of the assignment to Omnicom Media Group, which is forming a third agency brand to handle the business. Dentsu-owned Carat was awarded a smaller portion of business and the main incumbent, Starcom MediaVest Groupe came away with brands that P&G is in the process of divesting.