Pizza Hut pulls 7m brief from CIA

CIA Medianetwork has lost the 6.8m (Register MEAL) Pizza Hut media account in a deal which centralises the restaurant’s UK marketing and advertising business in the Abbott Mead Vickers Group.

AMV.BBDO has handled the Pizza Hut advertising since 1995. However, the new deal announced on Tuesday gives the media account to New PHD, the direct marketing business to Barraclough Hall Woolston Gray, and public relations to Freud Communications, all wholly-owned subsidiaries of AMV plc.

Pizza Hut marketing director Gary Haigh says: “Having all service groups around the same table at every stage of our planning and decision making is the best way to take Pizza Hut marketing forward.”

AMV says this is the first time such a deal has been struck across its companies in the UK. A spokeswoman says that it will try to achieve more integrated deals in the future.

Recent Pizza Hut advertisements have generated strong media interest through featuring stars such as Men Behaving Badly actor Martin Clunes in the UK, and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as part of a global campaign.

AMV’s parent network BBDO handles Pizza Hut throughout most countries in the world.