KENVUE APPOINTS WPP AND PUBLICIS AS GLOBAL AGENCY PARTNERS IN MAJOR MARKETING RESET

Consumer health company Kenvue has named WPP and Publicis Groupe as its new global agency partners after a competitive review. WPP will lead creative for most brands, while Publicis will oversee media, technology and Neutrogena’s creative, supporting Kenvue’s push to accelerate brand growth post spin-off.  

Kenvue, the consumer health company behind some of the world’s most familiar household brands, has reshaped its global advertising roster, appointing WPP and Publicis Groupe as its new agency partners after a competitive review that began earlier this fall. The move marks a significant reset for the company’s marketing ecosystem as it looks to accelerate growth and sharpen brand relevance following its spin-off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023.

Under the new arrangement, WPP has emerged as the lead creative partner for Kenvue, taking charge of creative and production duties across all channels for the majority of the company’s portfolio. The remit covers every Kenvue brand except Neutrogena, positioning WPP at the heart of the company’s global brand storytelling and creative expression. For a business that spans categories from pain relief and oral care to skincare and self-care, the win represents one of the most consequential creative mandates in the consumer health sector.

Publicis Groupe, meanwhile, has been tasked with a broad and strategically important role. The holding company will oversee media, commerce, healthcare communications and technology support for all Kenvue brands worldwide. In addition, Publicis will handle creative and production responsibilities for Neutrogena, one of Kenvue’s most globally visible and dermatology-led brands. Publicis already manages Kenvue’s media business across the Asia-Pacific region, and the expanded global remit deepens an existing relationship rather than starting from scratch.

The pitch process covered Kenvue’s entire brand portfolio on a global scale, including marquee names such as Tylenol, Listerine and Neutrogena. According to COMvergence estimates, the portfolio accounted for approximately $1.35 million in global media spend in 2025, underlining both the scale of the opportunity and the complexity of the assignment. While the spend figure reflects paid media investment, the broader scope of the work spans creative development, production, data, commerce and technology, highlighting how modern agency partnerships increasingly extend far beyond traditional advertising.

For Kenvue, the decision reflects a desire to simplify and strengthen its agency structure at a time when it is still defining itself as an independent company. When Kenvue was spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023, it inherited a fragmented global advertising setup. Its business was split primarily between Omnicom-owned BBDO and Interpublic Group agencies FCB and UM, creating a multi-network model that mirrored the complexity of its former parent’s marketing operations.

That landscape shifted again in November, when Omnicom completed its acquisition of Interpublic Group. The deal effectively brought much of Kenvue’s incumbent agency roster under a single holding company umbrella, positioning Omnicom as the main incumbent going into the review. Against that backdrop, the decision to move significant parts of the business to WPP and Publicis signals a deliberate break from legacy arrangements and a willingness to rethink how the company works with agency partners.

A spokesperson for Kenvue described the new agency selections as part of an effort to “boldly grow our brands,” a phrase that points to both ambition and urgency. As a standalone public company, Kenvue faces pressure to demonstrate momentum, drive innovation and compete more aggressively in crowded categories where brand differentiation can be hard won. Marketing, and particularly creative effectiveness and media efficiency, plays a central role in that challenge.

By splitting responsibilities between WPP and Publicis, Kenvue appears to be balancing creative focus with operational breadth. WPP’s creative leadership role allows for a more unified creative vision across most of the portfolio, potentially reducing fragmentation and improving consistency in how brands show up across markets and channels. Publicis’ remit, spanning media, commerce, healthcare and technology, reflects the growing importance of data-driven marketing, e-commerce integration and health-specific expertise in consumer health communications.

Neutrogena’s placement within Publicis’ creative remit is also telling. As a brand rooted in science, dermatology and credibility, Neutrogena often requires a different creative approach from mass consumer brands, one that blends clinical authority with emotional appeal. Publicis’ strength in healthcare communications and connected technology may have made it a natural fit for the brand’s specific needs, particularly as skincare becomes increasingly intertwined with digital diagnostics, influencer ecosystems and direct-to-consumer commerce.

The appointments also underscore the intensifying competition among agency holding companies for large, global clients at a time when the industry itself is in flux. Consolidation among agencies, pressure on fees, and the rapid rise of in-house capabilities and AI-driven tools have raised the stakes for winning and retaining major accounts. Securing a global creative lead role for a company of Kenvue’s size and brand breadth is a significant win for WPP, while Publicis’ expanded mandate reinforces its positioning as an end-to-end partner capable of integrating creativity, media, technology and health expertise.

For Kenvue, the challenge now shifts from selection to execution. Aligning two global agency partners across dozens of brands, markets and regulatory environments will require clear governance, strong collaboration and a shared understanding of the company’s growth priorities. The success of the new model will ultimately be judged not by the elegance of the agency structure but by its impact on brand growth, market share and consumer trust.

As Kenvue continues to define its identity beyond Johnson & Johnson, the new partnerships with WPP and Publicis represent more than a routine agency shuffle. They are a statement of intent, signalling that the company is ready to invest in creativity, data and technology as levers for growth, and to do so with partners it believes can help its brands stand out in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.