Leo Burnett beats DMB&B to St Ivel brand double win

Leo Burnett has fought off D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles to retain the St Ivel yellow fat brands Golden Churn and Vitalite.

The pitch came after the two brands were acquired by St Ivel’s parent company, Unigate, from Kraft Jacobs Suchard in July. Burnett has handled Golden Churn and Vitalite since their launch. DMB&B is St Ivel’s roster agency.

In the past year, less than 1m has been spent on Vitalite and Golden Churn, according to Register-MEAL. But St Ivel is expected to invest heavily in the two brands and take them into new sectors such as cheese.

DMB&B handles the 3.5m business for St Ivel Gold and Gold Light, Mono and Utterly Butterly, and the 1m St Ivel Shape yogurts account.

In February, the agency was hired by Unigate Dairies to create its first ads for the doorstep milk business since the “Watch out, Humphrey’s about” campaign in the Seventies.

Unigate bought Kraft’s European margarine and spreads bus-iness for 77.3m. It includes Vitalite, Golden Churn and the soft margarine Mellow in the UK, plus the two Italian brands, Valle and Valle Grangusto.

St Ivel says media planning and buying will be added to the centralised account handled by BMP Solutions in Media. Zenith Media handled the brands while they were owned by Kraft.