McCann-Erickson WorldGroup is not sleeping easy these nights, its insomnia triggered by Coca-Cola, the world’s thirteenth ranked advertiser and a major client of McCann parent, Interpublic Group.

It seems the beverage behemoth is eyeing with interest a number of concepts solicited from the much-praised London hotshop Mother for its flagship Coke Classic brand.

Although Mother has worked on Coke’s sibling brands such as Lilt, the adoption of its ideas for Classic would be its debut work for the world’s leading soft drink – emulating the scenario in New York last year when WPP Group’s Berlin Cameron/Red Cell snatched the creative for Classic’s “Real” campaign, sidelining McCann in the process.

So much for the panegyric coined by Coca-Cola in December 2000 when it dubbed Interpublic its “creative partner worldwide”. From now on, according to an anonymous insider who leaked the story to AdWeek, “McCann is going to be fighting for its life on Coke in every market.”

Data sourced from: AdWeek.com; additional content by WARC staff