Playtex reviews pan-European account

Sara Lee-owned Playtex is seeking an advertising agency to handle its multi-million pound underwear account across Europe, as incumbent Euro RSCG has declined to repitch for the business.

It has issued a brief to agencies to create a campaign for its glamorous underwear sub-brand Wonderbra, which is aimed at women aged 16 to 35 years. The pitch is expected to take two months.

Euro RSCG’s Paris office previously managed the account across Europe, although the London office also handled some of the business. In the UK, Playtex spends about £1m on advertising, including sub-brands Wonderbra, Affinity and Secrets. Media buying is handled by Media Planning Group, which is not thought to be affected by the review.

Euro RSCG picked up the Playtex business in 1997. It was previously split between Saatchi & Saatchi and the TBWA network. The move reunited Wonderbra with Nigel Rose, the copywriter responsible for the famous advertising line “Hello boys” coined while he was at TBWA working with Trevor Beattie. The “Hello boys” campaign dates back to Valentine’s Day in 1994 and turned Eva Herzigova into a supermodel.

Playtex was founded in 1921 and launched its UK subsidiary in 1955.