£15m Batchelors, Oxo set to go from Lowe and JWT

J Walter Thompson looks set to lose the £4.7m Oxo advertising account and Lowe Lintas its £9.5m Batchelors’ business, with the sale of both Unilever brands to the Campbell Soup Company.

It is extremely unlikely that Campbell will retain both well-established Unilever agencies.

This means that Campbell’s UK agency WPP-owned Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R is well-placed to pick up the business. The other agency network possibly in contention is BBDO, which handles Campbell’s soup business in the US.

According to one agency source, Campbell may even decide to use the opportunity to review the whole of its business in the UK.

Competition authorities insisted that Unilever sell Oxo and Batchelors, including Cup A Soup and Super Noodles, following the acquisition of Bestfoods in October.

Unilever is in the process of reviewing the roster for its Van den Bergh and Bestfoods businesses. Unilever agencies Lowe Lintas, Ogilvy & Mather, JWT and Bestfood agencies DDB and BBDO are all being considered.

There is industry speculation that Lowe Lintas will be compensated for the loss of the Batchelors business as part of the review, which is likely to be completed in early February.