PepsiCo's relationship with Omnicom Group, its longtime advertising partner, appears to be on the rocks. The company has moved the digital marketing duties for its Gatorade brand to digital agency VML, part of WPP group, marking the third time in last six months that Pepsi has moved a digital account from Omnicom's TBWA/Chiat/Day, Ad Age reports.
TBWA is expected to remain Gatorade's strategic and creative agency, but VML will handle all website development and other digital projects. Pepsi is in the midst of a heavy digital push, and the chain of moves indicates that the company is not confident in Omnicom's digital efforts.
In October, the company announced that Huge, a part of Interpublic Group, would handle the digital account for the flagship Pepsi brand. A month later, Omnicom lost the Sobe account when Pepsi decided it wanted a digital and PR-only strategy for the brand, choosing to work with the independent digital agency FirstBorn.
