Two weeks after consolidating its worldwide media buying business with Publicis, pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, announced today that a cross-agency WPP team won global creative duties for its popular Panadol line of products after a competitive review. It marks a significant win for WPP after a string of unsuccessful media pitches; GSK is described…
The National Football League is in the market for a new agency partner. Just over a month after naming former Activision Blizzard top marketer and 2013 Adweek Brand Genius Tim Ellis as its new CMO, the NFL issued both an RFI and an RFP regarding its overall marketing business, according to several parties with direct…
PepsiCo has moved to end its relationship with VMLY&R after eight and a half years, a client spokesperson confirmed today. The WPP-owned agency has counted Gatorade and Tropicana digital as two of the larger accounts run out of its Kansas City, Kan. headquarters. “Gatorade and digital agency of record VML have enjoyed a successful relationship…
United Airlines announced it’s expanding its partnership with Dentsu Aegis Network, handing the holding company lead global media and social duties following a review launched this summer. Carat will run media planning and buying on the account, with Merkle handling targeted marketing and 360i running social media. The airline’s creative agency of record is Dentsu-owned…
Ford has selected BBDO as its new lead creative agency, concluding a global creative review launched in April. The move marks a major defeat for WPP, which has been Ford’s lead advertising partner for more than seven decades and counts the automaker as its largest global client. BBDO begins transitioning to the new role on…
Hershey has moved creative responsibility for several of its most prominent candy brands to Droga5. “Droga5 has joined Hershey’s roster of creative agencies,” a company spokesperson said. “Droga5 is highly innovative and has consistently demonstrated their ability to develop breakthrough creative over the past decade. We are eager for them to develop revolutionary work for…
Passenger railroad service Amtrak selected a WPP team led by Y&R as its new marketing communications partner. It’s unclear at this time whether incumbent FCB New York, which was named agency of record for Amtrak in October of 2012 and launched a “Break the Travel Quo” campaign for the brand last year, participated in the…
Banking and brokerage firm Charles Schwab will continue working with Universal McCann (UM) as U.S. media agency of record, the company confirmed today. The decision came after a review that began in April when the company issued an RFI and invited other parties to pitch. At the time, a spokesperson said, “as is a best…
MDC Partners-owned agencies Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners and Forsman & Bodenfors are merging to form a new global creative offering under the latter’s name, effectively putting an end to the KBS acronym. The new agency comes to market today with 700 employees across eight offices in North America, Europe and Asia and marries F&B’s…
Yum! Brands appointed Wieden+Kennedy as media agency of record for KFC, consolidating its domestic creative and media duties with one agency. This means the company has ended its relationship with Publcis Groupe’s Spark Foundry after just over a year. “KFC U.S. made the strategic decision to move its media planning and buying business to Wieden+Kennedy,…
PHD has won the global media business of banking giant HSBC after a competitive review, according to two parties with direct knowledge of the matter. The client, which is currently Europe’s largest banking business, reportedly notified the winners and losers today. At press time, HSBC representatives in the U.S. and the U.K. had not responded…
Virgin has selected independent agency Mother New York as agency of record for its new Virgin Voyages brand. The agency’s work for the brand, which defines itself as a “an all-new travel brand whose mission is to redefine what those expect from a holiday at sea” will include a communications campaign strategy across channels including…
Jack Link’s has completed the overhaul of its agency partnerships with the selection of Cincinnati-based independent agency Empower as its media agency of record. The appointment follows a review that was conducted as a separate process from the creative agency review launched in February. It follows Jack Link’s appointment of GSD&M as its new creative…
The world’s second-largest credit card company, American Express, will soon launch its first worldwide media review in more than a decade, a spokesperson confirmed Friday. “We are evaluating the way we buy media globally,” said AmEx vice president of public affairs Elizabeth Crosta. “With this evaluation, it is likely we will issue an RFP for…
Just under one year after being named lead global creative agency of record for Nissan’s luxury Infiniti brand, 72andSunny has officially resigned the business as of today, according to an all-staff email from CEO and partner Matt Jarvis. “72andSunny and Infiniti have agreed to part company,” read the note, which went out this afternoon. “In…
John Deere named South Carolina agency EP+Co (formerly Erwin Penland) as advertising agency of record for its consumer equipment business, following a review led by Hasan & Co. Incumbent GSD&M won creative and media agency of record duties for John Deere back in 2007. The brand moved media buying and planning responsibilities to WPP’s Mindshare…
Global brewing conglomerate Heineken, currently the world’s second-largest beer company, has been conducting a review of the media planning and buying business for its namesake brand around the world, according to multiple parties with direct knowledge of the matter. These sources told Adweek that Heineken calls the process a “presentation,” but it more closely resembles…
International pharmaceutical conglomerate GSK, or GlaxoSmithKline, has begun the process of reviewing its global media planning and buying business. Australian trade publication AdNews broke the news yesterday, and today a company representative confirmed the review to Adweek but did not provide additional information. ID Comms is managing the process, according to multiple sources who also…
Perennial Super Bowl presence Avocados from Mexico has chosen Energy BBDO as its new ad agency of record after a competitive review. The organization–which is a nonprofit trade group representing the Mexican Hass Avocados Importers Association and the Association of Growers and Packers of Avocados From Mexico–issued an RFP earlier this year, aiming to consolidate…
Dentsu Aegis Network has succeeded in defending Microsoft’s global media planning and buying business, which is one of its largest accounts. Multiple parties close to the matter told Adweek that the technology giant announced its decision earlier this week after a closed review first launched last December and initially reported by AdAge. Every major holding…
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