Zenith stalls Tetley plan to hand account to MediaVest
Tea manufacturer Tetley GB has backtracked on plans to pass its media buying business from Zenith Media to MediaVest with immediate effect.
The company last week announced that it would consolidate its &£8.3m media buying and planning accounts into MediaVest, which already handles planning.
Tetley GB initially announced that MediaVest would take over the buying on October 1. But after Zenith, which has handled Tetley’s buying for 11 years, indicated that it intended to work out a contractual three-month notice period, the tea company issued a statement.
A Tetley GB spokeswoman says: “Tetley anticipated that Zenith would stop work immediately, but it has decided to work out its contract. MediaVest will not now take over until January.”
Tetley’s creative account is handled by MediaVest’s sister company D’Arcy. It has not been affected by the media pitch.
The media review was handled by Nigel Holland, who was recently promoted to the role of marketing director in place of John Nicholas, now commercial director of Tetley Group (MW May 13).