Allmond scoops £15m Weetabix

The Allmond Partnership has won the &£15m planning and buying account for Weetabix from incumbent PHD. Initiative Media also pitched for the business.

Allmond will take over the account, which also includes Alpen, Ready Brek, Weetos, Mini Crunch and Weetabix range of cereal bars, from March 1 next year. Outdoor Connection has retained the outdoor media account and will work alongside Allmond. Weetabix’s commercial director Bill Humes oversaw the appointment.

The review of the media account, which PHD had held since it 2000, was announced in September, just weeks before the company was bought by US venture capitalist company Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. The company, which also snapped up Ambrosia in September, paid &£642m for Weetabix. It is not clear what Hicks Muse’s plans for the brand are, but it is thought that it will not be assimilated into its existing food portfolio, Premier Foods.

Weetabix has been privately owned by the George family for 70 years. Chairman and managing director Richard George is to remain with the business in a non-executive role, even after he steps down as chairman next April.

Weetabix won the title of best-selling breakfast cereal last year, according to Euromonitor, overtaking Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. It has the second largest market share after Kellogg, with 13.6 per cent.