WPP’s EssenceMediacom has suffered another body blow this week as it loses the lucrative media account of global e-commerce heavyweight eBay to rival group Dentsu.
Coming out on top in a three-way competitive process with the incumbent EssenceMediacom and Havas Media Network, Dentsu’s iProspect will now assume responsibility for eBay’s global media capabilities.
“While we were very impressed with all the agencies who participated, iProspect stood out for their passion of the eBay brand and their strong operating model,” said a spokesperson for the retail giant.
“Their support will be critical as we focus on full-funnel campaigns that are integrated throughout the entire buying and selling journey. We look forward to working with the iProspect team in 2025 and beyond.
“We want to thank all the agencies who took part in the review process, in particular EssenceMediacom. We appreciate our long-standing relationship and are very proud of the accomplishments we have made over the years.”
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Worth an estimated £266 according to research outfit Comvergence, the loss of the e-commerce giant’s account will no doubt prove another shock to the EssenceMediacom system, having also lost its flagship Sky and L’Oréal remits to Publicis in the last few weeks.
A Dentsu iProspect spokesperson added: “iProspect is honoured to be partnering with eBay’s visionary team in fully leveraging their market potential and helping drive their global transformation journey.
“Our shared vision for accelerating growth and optimising performance across the media funnel through innovation, data and technology was clear throughout the entire process. We are excited about our future success together.”
This follows a troubled few months for WPP as whole, which was recently forced to downgrade its yearly forecast after a challenging first half of 2024, in which it axed around 3,000 personnel.
