Zenith Optimedia wins £10m Wyeth

US pharmaceutical company Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, the makers of Anadin, has consolidated its £10m media planning and buying account at Zenith Optimedia.

Incumbent Zenith Optimedia won the account after a four-way pitch with other incumbent Mediaedge:CIA, BBJ and Media Planning Group. The review was overseen by the AAR and involved marketing consultancy Billetts.

Optimedia held the account for Wyeth’s vitamin brand Centrum, but the merged agency will now deal with other brands, including Chapstick, BiSoDol and Preparation H. Wyeth has no plans to review its creative account, held by Publicis.

Wyeth director of brand marketing Mark Cooper says the aim of the pitch was to consolidate the business into one agency. It picked Zenith Optimedia because of Optimedia’s track record on the Centrum brand, and the additional leverage that the merged Zenith Optimedia can offer.

Cooper says Wyeth will now examine its planning strategy, but he does not expect any fundamental changes. Wyeth ran its first TV campaign for two years at the end of 2002. It featured the Anadin brand in a humorous campaign aimed at the younger end of the market.

Cooper was promoted to director of brand marketing last month when the UK marketing department was restructured. He was previously category director for the nutritional division. The reshuffle also involved marketing director Ellie Hughes moving sideways to become business development director, responsible for mergers and acquisitions (MW December 19, 2002).