The £60 million ($88m; €96.3m) UK media planning and buying duties for Nestlé will be consolidated into one agency at the end of the year, as the company offloads brands and reorganises marketing.
It is understood that the review will be a straight shoot-out between the two incumbents shops: MindShare (confectionery brands) and Universal McCann (beverages and food). Stuart Cox, Nestlé’s UK media manager, will oversee the consolidation of the duties.
At the same time, Swiss-headquartered Nestlé announced it is to scrap the posts of marketing director and media manager at its Nestlé Rowntree unit in York UK.
Separately, the global foods colossus revealed on Friday it had negotiated a lightning sale of its UK and Irish ambient-temperature foods business to Premier International Foods which, in a surprise swoop, made Nestlé a £135m ($198.38m; €216.22m) offer it couldn’t refuse.
The ambient portfolio includes such brands as Branston pickle, Crosse & Blackwell, Gale's honey, Sun-Pat peanut butter and Sarson's vinegar.
According to Premier, these UK household names will sit nicely alongside its own flagship brands – Hartley's preserves, Chivers marmalade, Typhoo tea, Cadbury drinking chocolate and HP baked beans – creating a combined business with an annual sales of £960m.
Data sourced from: Media Week (UK); additional content by WARC staff
