• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 1, 2018

Royal Dutch Shell has retained WPP’s MediaCom as its global media planning and buying agency after a review that began earlier this year.

The company spends an estimated $200 million on ads annually. 

Separately, WPP said today that Shell has placed four WPP agencies on its “Creative Agency of the Future” roster, including Wunderman, H+K Strategies, Geometry Global and Mirum. 

According to WPP, the agencies will work on strategy and planning, creative ideation, digital, B2B and trade marketing, shopper marketing, influencer engagement and consumer and B2B PR. 

Jason Warnes, global client partner at Wunderman, who led the creative pitch for WPP, has been appointed as WPP’s Global Client Lead for Shell to manage the expanded relationship.

WPP co-COO Mark Read stated: “We are delighted with the outcome of both the creative and media reviews, which demonstrates the strength of our companies, our flexibility and adaptability as a group, and our enduring ability to win the trust of the biggest global clients.” 

Outside of WPP, Doremus, Edelman, VCCP and VCCP Retail also received assignments. 

Shell’s masterbrand communications assignment, led by J. Walter Thompson, was not part of the review. 

Internally, Shell had dubbed the non-media part of the review process “Project Agency of the Future.” Carolyn McKeever, Shell’s global head of downstream marketing communications said the process “demonstrated that we can no longer spend our way into our customer’s hearts and minds, we must earn our place. As well as realigning towards earned and digital first, we were determined to strengthen our specialist agency muscles in B2B, shopper and trade which Doremus, VCCP Retail and Geometry more than cover off.” 

Commenting on the separate media review, Chris Hayek, Global Head of Media, stated, “The selection of MediaCom reflects Shell’s ongoing efforts to modernise our marketing model and integrate communications across disciplines. This builds on our long-term partnership with MediaCom … Together, we will improve the effectiveness of Shell’s media spend across the globe.” 

 This story has been Updated with input from Shell.