By The Malketeer
Coca-Cola’s alliance with WPP’s OpenX marks a new chapter in agile, AI-driven, and open-source brand building
When Coca-Cola first partnered with WPP to launch OpenX in 2021, it wasn’t just a shift in agency structure, it was a bold experiment in what marketing could become.
Fast forward to 2025, and that experiment has evolved into a proven formula for global creative excellence and operational agility.
Now, The Coca-Cola Company has officially renewed its global partnership with WPP’s OpenX, affirming the success of an open-source marketing model that has turned industry heads and set new standards in brand engagement.
Announced by Coca-Cola’s Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer, Manuel “Manolo” Arroyo, the renewal underscores a relationship that has redefined how brands operate at scale.
“We built and scaled OpenX, the industry’s first open-source marketing model,” said Arroyo in a recent LinkedIn post.
“It has significantly stepped up our capabilities.”
That “step-up” has been far more than incremental.
Under OpenX, Coca-Cola developed Studio X—its global content production engine—while pioneering AI initiatives that have begun to reimagine consumer interaction across platforms.
Bespoke Architecture
The results speak for themselves: in 2024, Coca-Cola was named “Creative Brand of the Year” at Cannes Lions and crowned the “Most Valuable Global Food and Drink Brand” by Kantar.
What makes the OpenX model unique is its bespoke architecture: a dedicated, decentralised but interconnected WPP network built around Coca-Cola’s global needs.
At a time when many brands still navigate complex agency rosters, Coca-Cola’s consolidation under OpenX proved to be a game-changer in terms of both creative cohesion and cost efficiency.
Despite Coca-Cola’s decision in late 2024 to move its North American media and data business to Publicis Groupe, OpenX continues to hold global creative duties and retains media responsibilities in all regions outside Canada, Mexico, and the US.
Balancing Regional Strengths
That strategic distribution, rather than a split, appears more like a recalibration to balance regional strengths while preserving the proven performance of OpenX.
According to Arroyo, the renewed partnership marks “a special moment in marketing” for Coca-Cola.
“I’m glad to have WPP OpenX on our team to help us create the future of marketing,” he said—an endorsement not just of past performance, but of shared vision.
For marketers watching from the sidelines, Coca-Cola’s reaffirmation of OpenX is more than a corporate update.
It’s a case study in how a global brand can embrace creativity, data, and decentralisation without sacrificing control or consistency.
As the marketing world continues to wrestle with platform fragmentation, AI disruption, and the elusive quest for authenticity, Coca-Cola and WPP’s OpenX may well offer a glimpse into the shape of things to come: borderless, adaptive, and fearlessly innovative.
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