L'Oreal awards performance-agency ecommerce remits for four Southeast Asian markets

L'Oreal has made changes to its roster of performance agencies with ecommerce remits across Southeast Asia, where it had put four markets up for review.

At the conclusion of a competitive pitch run by consultancy R3, which began last December, the beauty and cosmetics company has awarded Publicis Groupe three of these markets, namely Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. These are are all new wins for Publicis, which pitched using a bespoke 'One L'Oreal' team drawing on talent from Performics and Zenith. 

Wavemaker, leading a GroupM pitch, was the incumbent in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, and has retained the Indonesia market. Dentsu, led by IProspect, meanwhile, was the Singapore incumbent but opted not to compete to retain the business. 

"It has been a pleasure working with the L'Oreal team in Singapore through the acceleration of their brand growth journey since 2018," Prerna Mehrotra, CEO of Dentsu's Singapore media group, said in a media statement. "We are proud of the successful integrated campaigns and performance that we have delivered for its brands, and are confident that it is now in a strong position for us to move on to support other partners in driving growth. As such, we have respectfully declined to participate in the media review and wish them success in the next phase of their journey."

Wavemaker, Publicis Groupe, R3 and L'Oreal did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. 

The outcome is significant as it comes with sizeable term and effectively redraws the map in Southeast Asia for one of the largest marketing spenders in the health and beauty category.  Campaign understands the Singapore remit begins April 1 and runs for three years and nine months, with the other markets set for a three-and-a-half year term starting July 1.  

The Philippines and Vietnam markets were not part of this review. GroupM continues to hold the account for the Philippines, while Publicis has the remit in Vietnam.  

Outside of Southeast Asia, Wavemaker retained its broader media remit with L'Oreal in India last year and expanded it to Australia and New Zealand.