Grey Worldwide takes Mars Bar US and Europe account from D’Arcy

Mars Confectionery has handed the European and US advertising account for the Mars brand to Grey Worldwide, following a three-way pitch.

The move ends a long relationship with incumbent D’Arcy, which also pitched for the business. Mars roster agency BBDO Worldwide also pitched for the work. Grey already handles the Twix, Galaxy and Milky Way accounts.

In the past year D’Arcy has lost its grip on Mars business in both the confectionery and petfood sectors. Last month D’Arcy lost the Uncle Ben’s European advertising account, which is worth £24m, to BBDO Worldwide (MW October 11).

D’Arcy continues to handle the Skittles, Flyte Bar and Maltesers business.

Last week Mars announced plans to merge its food and petcare businesses under the name Masterfoods (Division of Mars UK) though it maintains that its three marketing departments across confectionery, petcare and food will remain unaffected. Mike Davis, previously managing director of Pedigree Masterfoods, takes over as managing director for the merged business (MW last week).