The large agency networks show a divided picture this week. Where nearly the whole group still moved in the same direction last week, the share prices now diverge sharply. Publicis is the biggest gainer with a rise of almost five percent, while S4 Capital loses nearly a fifth of its market value.

WPP, Dentsu and Omnicom stay roughly flat, Havas adds more than two percent. The news is dominated by a global media review at Coca-Cola that puts WPP and Publicis head to head, by a painful contraction at S4 Capital, and by the ongoing race for AI, data and connected TV.

Company	02/06	09/06	Change
WPP (GBP)	275.84	276.70	+0.3%
Publicis (EUR)	84.95	88.90	+4.7%
S4 Capital (GBP)	43.72	35.10	-19.7%
Dentsu (JPY)	3093	3109	+0.5%
Omnicom (USD)	75.22	75.63	+0.5%
Havas (EUR)	16.85	17.20	+2.1%

WPP

WPP is under pressure at its largest client. Coca-Cola is opening a global review of its media, data and technology assignment, an account estimated at four billion dollars, and is inviting Publicis to pitch. The North American media portion already moved away from WPP last year. The timing stands out: in February, Coca-Cola CMO Manuel Arroyo still publicly backed the recovery plan of WPP chief Cindy Rose, and less than four months later the assignment is up for grabs.

The mood around the stock was vulnerable to begin with. Goldman Sachs placed a sell rating on WPP, and S4 founder Martin Sorrell called the former market leader "catatonic" in the press. At the same time, WPP is trying to keep the initiative on AI. It is launching HEX, a creative technology studio that helps brands develop and roll out AI applications. The studio brings together some fifty creative technologists from disciplines such as architecture, gaming, visual arts and robotics, and sits within WPP Production. On balance the share price stayed flat.

Publicis

Publicis is the winner of the week. The stock broke through resistance at 89 euros and now stands about fourteen percent higher than a month ago. Berenberg initiated coverage with a buy rating and pointed to Sapient, Epsilon and the LiveRamp acquisition as the building blocks behind twenty consecutive quarters of above-average growth.

On top of that comes the invitation from Coca-Cola. Publicis has the chance to take the sector's largest media assignment away from WPP, a battle that will be fought out over the coming months.

S4 Capital

S4 Capital takes the heaviest hit of the week and drops nearly twenty percent. At the shareholders' meeting, the company confirmed that its headcount shrank by around 800 staff over the past year, from about 7000 to some 6200. The cause lies in weak client spending and what founder Martin Sorrell describes as growing geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Technology clients, accounting for almost half of revenue, prefer to put their money into building their own AI capacity rather than into marketing and technology services.

For 2026, S4 expects net revenue between 632 and 663 million pounds, a slight decline on last year. The group is steering toward margin improvement and brought average net debt down to 106 million pounds, against 144 million a year earlier. Morgan Stanley nonetheless cut its price target on the weaker outlook. A bright spot is new and expanded relationships with companies including Asana, Samsung, Visa, Square and HelloFresh.

Dentsu

Dentsu continues its line on connected TV and programmatic. In Sweden, the agency is deepening its collaboration with advertising platform Magnite to improve programmatic buying and operational efficiency, part of a broader move in which Magnite is embedding itself further with major streaming services and media agencies. In Hong Kong, Dentsu deployed its own Search 3.0 solution to increase the AI visibility of Tiger Brokers in search results. The share price barely moved.

Omnicom

Omnicom stayed flat but drew investor attention. Independent analyses label the stock as undervalued relative to its estimated intrinsic value, while insiders are selling lightly. That combination sharpens the question of how convincingly Omnicom can turn its fundamental strength into lasting returns. The group is meanwhile working on an advisory layer meant to recover lost value, following the IPG acquisition and the accompanying reorganisation.

Havas

Havas gains more than two percent and builds further on its most notable move of recent weeks. Its own record label Volyum is taking shape through Virgin Music Group, the label and distribution arm of Universal Music Group, with Yannick Bolloré as the driving force. With it, Havas wants to connect brands and artists in a new way. On the market, the company also continued its ongoing share buyback programme.

Marketing Report Markets is an editorial analysis of share price developments within the marcom sector and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities.

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