Publicis Groupe is no longer in the running to win Jaguar Land Rover’s global integrated marketing account.
Pitches took place in September, and Campaign understands WPP, Omnicom and Accenture Song remain in the race, with the latter defending its place as the incumbent.
JLR’s integrated agency review spans four brands: Defender, Discovery, Jaguar and Range Rover.
The pitch covers most of JLR’s creative and marketing services globally, from strategy and ideation to website development, production, digital experiences and marketing operations.
Media planning and buying is the main exception, which is handled by Omnicom’s Hearts & Science and is not part of the pitch.
Jaguar Land Rover declined to comment on the pitch process. Campaign also contacted Publicis Groupe, Accenture Song, WPP and Omnicom, who all declined to comment.
Campaign first reported JLR was reviewing the account in May, and on the subsequent decision to shortlist four agency groups in August.
Accenture Song has worked with the British carmaker for four years since its appointment in 2021, and the existing contract runs out in mid-2026.
There has been intense media interest in Jaguar, in particular, following a major rebrand last November—described as a “reimagining” by the brand’s chief creative officer, Gerry McGovern. The colourful launch film, “Copy nothing”, did not feature a car and divided opinion in adland and beyond.
More recently, JLR suffered a serious cyber attack, which began on August 31, forcing the business to shut down systems across its factories and offices.
The carmaker is Britain’s biggest automotive employer with an extensive supply chain. Cyber Monitoring Centre estimated the event caused a UK financial impact of £1.9 billion and affected more than 5,000 UK organisations.
The CMC’s report said: “This incident appears to be the most economically damaging cyber event to hit the UK, with the vast majority of the financial impact being due to the loss of manufacturing output at JLR and its suppliers.”
Campaign has previously reported that JLR is looking to complete its marketing review by the end of 2025.
