Publicis tipped to win accounts for former Golden Wonder brands acquired by UB

Publicis is tipped to pick up the &£1m advertising business for Wheat Crunchies and Nik-Naks from JWT, after the snacks brands were acquired by United Biscuits UK (UB) earlier this week.

The brands were previously part of the Golden Wonder portfolio, which has been acquired by Northern Ireland-based snacks manufacturer Tayto.

In a separate deal, Tayto sold the Wheat Crunchies and Nik-Naks brand to UB.

Publicis already handles the &£13m advertising account of United Biscuits-owned brands including crisp brands McCoys, Hula Hoops and Skips and biscuit brand McVities.

The agency was awarded the &£4m Jacob’s snacks business without a pitch in July last year following UB’s acquisition of that company in late 2004.

Euro RSCG was the incumbent on the Jacob’s business, which includes the Jacob’s Cream Crackers and Twiglets brands.

UB also moved the Jacob’s &£3.4m media planning and buying account out of Carat and into Starcom, which handles the UB account (MW August 4, 2005).

Starcom also handled Golden Wonder’s media account and already works on the Wheat Crunchies and Nik-Naks brands.

Golden Wonder was placed in adminstration at the start of January, following lacklustre performance against rival Pepsico-owned Walkers Snacks. Its troubles forced it to sell off key brands such as Pot Noodle, now owned by Unilever, and Wotsits, which was snapped up by Walkers.

The company underwent a management buy-out from Dalgety in 1995 but has had a succession of owners over the past six years.