Grey axes Woodpecker to vie for £5m drinks account

Grey has parted company with the £400,000 Bulmer cider brand Woodpecker, and is understood to be pitching for a conflicting account worth £5m.

Grey has parted company with the &£400,000 Bulmer cider brand Woodpecker, and is understood to be pitching for a conflicting account worth &£5m.

Woodpecker was originally handled by Mellors Reay, which was folded into Grey last year. But a source claims that Grey resigned the account because it wants to pitch for rival business, which could be a beer.

However, other industry observers were mystified by what the new account could be.

Bulmer previously spent heavily on advertising the sweet cider brand, but that spend has dwindled over the past two years.

The brand was reformulated and repackaged at the beginning of this year, and it is understood that Bulmer wants to give it a new marketing push, including TV advertising.

Grey handled Woodpecker at the same time that it held the account for rival Matthew Clark’s cider business, which includes Blackthorn, Diamond White, K and Gaymer’s Olde English ciders.

But this account was put up for pitch and won by DMB&B (MW February 11).