MindShare poaches £8m Nescafé media business

MindShare has won Nestlé UK’s £8m Nescafé buying and planning account from Universal McCann and retained its £30m confectionery media business, following a six-month review.

Universal has retained the £3.3m food division business and will now deal with the chilled dairy, Herta and Nesquik accounts.

The review was initially called last May (MW May 2, 2002), following a restructure of Nestlé’s media team and a decision to scrap the role of director of marketing, which had been held by Philip Buckman.

Buckman oversaw the pitch as a media and research consultant alongside communications and corporate affairs director David Hudson and media manager Stuart Cox. No other agencies were invited to pitch for the work and the review does not affect Nestlé’s sister companies Nestlé Purina Petcare, Cereal Partners and Perrier Vittel.

The company’s confectionery division, Nestlé Rowntree, is gearing up for the launch of Kit Kat Kubes, a bite-sized version of the wafer confectionery brand, later this year (MW March 13). It is understood to be investing £7m in the launch.Sales of Nestlé’s Yorkie have risen by 28.7 per cent, according to Nielsen. The company credits last year’s tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign, which claimed the bar was not for girls, with the growth.