Omnicom’s stock remains down about 6% since news broke last week that one of its biggest clients—PepsiCo—abruptly shifted its entire media account to Publicis Groupe without a formal review. Omnicom ran the account for 20-plus years. 

According to the latest figures from COMvergence, Pepsi spent an estimated $1.7 billion on media in 2025. Of that total, Publicis had already been handling about $540 million, mostly attributable to the $500 million of spending in the Asia Pacific region.  

Omnicom had about two thirds of the business, including the $780 million U.S. market. 

PepsiCo has not explained specifically what led to the shift. But according to a rundown by analyst and marketing consultant Madison And Wall, “one can reasonably assume that pricing was a major factor.” 

Which isn’t a big surprise, given M&W’s premise that generally, “marketers are focused on price and performance over transparency and control.” 

According to M&W’s analysis, PepsiCo accounted for about 2.4% of Omnicom’s gross revenue last year -- or approximately $400 million, which includes creative, media and other services. The lost media assignment probably accounts for under $100 million in gross revenue “unless principal-based trading was already a significant component of the existing relationship.” 

While a nine-figure revenue loss is clearly a blow, Omnicom’s sheer size mitigates it to some extent. It's a $26-billion-plus revenue company thanks to its acquisition of IPG last year. 

The PepsiCo media loss could be made up for “in many ways,” per M&W. Strategically, the firm added, “the loss could have more significant repercussions as it may lead to either more aggressive efforts with non-transparent trading activities, more significant investments in new capabilities or both.”  

And to the extent that non-transparent activities helped Publicis offer better pricing to PepsiCo, similar tactics are likely to expand industrywide, M&W surmises.  

The firm also believes there’s a high likelihood that WPP will retain its $1.7 billion Coca-Cola media account, currently in review, and likely win back TCC’s $800 million North America business, which shifted to Publicis in 2025.  

The PepsiCo shift will affect jobs with “many hundreds of people at Omnicom likely to be laid off,” says M&W. The good news: Many of those same people will likely migrate to Publicis, along with the PepsiCo business.