• by Larissa Faw , November 5, 2019

Insurance giant AXA has awarded WPP its global media account after a competitive pitch. Publicis Groupe, retained global creative duties. Dentsu, and Havas, also participated in the pitch.

The account covers close to 30 markets across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

WPP said the media assignment will be handled by Wavemaker in all markets except France, where it will be handled by GroupM.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “AXA is a great brand and we are very proud to have been given such an extensive brief to support its development through the media, technology and data expertise of Wavemaker and GroupM.”

This is the latest in a series of new client assignments and wins for Wavemaker, which include Huawei (across multiple markets, including China), China Mobile, Australia Post, Eurostar in Europe, William Hill in the UK and the global retention of Chevron.

Publicis Groupe said that in addition to retaining creative, it would handle media in a few markets -- the UK, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong.

Havas previously handled media for the client.

The first creative work under this extended relationship will continue the company's "Know You Can" brand strategy launched by the Groupe last year that suggests AXA is the everyday “encouraging” partner to its clients.

Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun issued a statement: "After LVMH, Mondelez, Novartis and more recently Disney, the AXA Group's renewed trust is another demonstration of the relevance of our integrated model of creation, media and data, which perfectly meets the major marketing transformation needs of our clients."

This story has been updated.