TBWA picks up £15m McCain brief

Frozen food company McCain Foods has appointed TBWA/London to handle its£15m advertising business after a three-way pitch against Euro RSCG WnekGosper and Grey Worldwide London.

The review of the business, which includes potato products and a pizzarange, was called after last year’s merger of incumbent D’Arcy with LeoBurnett (MW October 24, 2002). Potential client conflict with food giant HJHeinz, a Leo Burnett client, is understood to have triggered the review.

Before the merger, Campbell Doyle Dye was handed the £4m brief to launchMcCain’s hot crisp product, Vibes, without a pitch. But CDD decided againstpitching for McCain’s advertising business, citing cultural differences asthe reason (MW March 20).

McCain Foods has recently increased its field marketing activities, thoughit continues to use above-the-line advertising primarily to support itsbrands. It now allocates £800,000 of its promotional budget to fieldmarketing.

McCain claims to be the leading maker of frozen chips in the world and 60per cent of its sales are attributed to these products. It is keen to expandits product range to take advantage of the popularity of a growing frozenfood market in the UK. Last month it acquired Belleisle Foods, a frozenChinese food manufacturer in the US. It supplies chips to McDonald’s outsidethe US.