Meta onboards Spark Foundry to handle its global media duties

Facebook, which was rebranded as Meta last week, has appointed Spark Foundry to handle global media planning and buying duties. The parent company’s name was changed as part of broadening its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR), announced CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday. According to the media reports, Spark Foundry will be responsible for Meta’s media innovation, planning and investment, cross-channel approaches, tech and operations.

The mandate will include media planning and buying across Facebook’s entire businesses, which includes Instagram, Meta, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Along with ID Comms, Mindshare and dentsu were incumbent agencies in charge for this pitch.

The media pitch came two years after Meta named Wieden + Kennedy, BBDO, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and Droga5 to lead global creative strategies and production for each of its apps and corporate brands that includes Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook and Messenger.

Of late, Facebook has been under immense pressure following the damning revelations made by whistle-blower Frances Haugen, an ex-data scientist with the company. Activists have since then renewed their clamour for stricter regulations and control over the social networking site. The rebranding exercise, according to critics, is part of Meta’s attempt to deflect attention from the ongoing scandals.