Grey has dropped Coty from its portfolio due to ‘creativity’, according to Coty, with the company having worked on the Coty brands acquired from Procter & Gamble (P&G) last year.

The WPP-owned company has resigned the likes of Clairol, Wella, and CoverGirl, with the latter having since been signed over to Droga5, with the move has resolved a possible conflict of interest for the agency due to Grey’s handling of P&G’s Pantene and other haircare lines.

A company statement provided to Global Cosmetics News stated, “The CoverGirl brand conducted a creative review including Grey. Droga5 won the business based on creative merit. The decision was not based on financials. This is one of several creative led agency changes we have made recently as we seek to increase the creativity and therefore effectiveness of communications for our major brands.”

Prior to this news, Coty had already begun realigning its agencies in a bid to revive the business due to a major sales loss for brands across its portfolio, as well as the P&G acquired ones.

And, despite its notoriously strict 120-day payment term policy, strong agencies have stepped up to the fore, including Sally Hanson’s move to Anomaly, Rimmel to BETC, and pitches for Max Factor coming from Anomaly, adam&eveDDB and the The&Partnership.