It hasn't been a great week for Publicis Groupe's media networks. On the heels of Mars moving its global planning business out of the French company's Starcom agency, another marketer, L'Oréal, is shifting U.S. communications planning for significant brands out of Publicis' Optimedia to media agency MEC.
MEC, like Mars winner MediaCom, is owned by WPP Group. The other finalist in the review was WPP's Maxus media network.
Reps at Optimedia and L'Oréal did not return calls.
MEC's communications planning business includes Lancôme Paris and L'Oréal's USA fragrance brands like Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent and Viktor & Rolf. All of the business is part of L'Oréal's Luxury Brand portfolio.