W&K pulls out of Monster pitch after $60m win

Wieden & Kennedy has pulled out of the running for Monster.co.uk’s pan-European advertising account, understood to be worth £5m, after winning the account for a rival online recruitment site.

Wieden & Kennedy scooped the $60m (£30m) Careerbuilder.com account in the US earlier this week and as a result decided it could no longer be considered for the Monster business as there would be a conflict of interest.

But the agency says the Careerbuilder win does not include the UK as yet. It says it will handle creative and media planning and buying for the US job site. Incumbent on the account was Chicago-based agency, Cramer-Krasselt.

Online recruitment site Monster began its hunt for a pan-European advertising agency last month (MW May 3). It has worked with Leo Burnett in the past on a project basis in the UK, having been appointed to handle its above-the-line and digital advertising in 2005 when it took the account from Saatchi & Saatchi.

Last week, Careerbuilder. com announced a two-year deal with Virginmedia.com to power a new online job centre on Virgin’s jobs and money site.

CareerBuilder.com carries more than 1.5 million vacancies on its site and is the biggest online recruitment site in the US. Last month Microsoft announced it had bought a minority stake in Careerbuilder.com.