Reckitt Benckiser consolidates media buying
Reckitt Benckiser has appointed Havas Media Group and Publicis Group as its two lead global media agencies to handle its £800m media planning and buying for brands such as Lemsip, Nurofen, Dettol and Vanish.
The appointments see a consolidation of Reckitt Benckiser’s global media buying and the company hopes the decision will deliver economies of scale and ensure a fully integrated approach across its “Powerbrands”.
The assignment will be split between Havas Media Group, owner of Media Planning Group and Arena, and Publicis Groupe, owner of Starcom MediaVest and ZenithOptimedia. Both are already working with Reckitt Benckiser in some parts of the world. In the UK the company’s media was handled by OMD.
Havas, OMG, Publicis and WPP pitched for the contracts.
The company currently spends 12.4% of its global net revenues on buying advertising media. The review also included online and digital media.
Rakesh Kapoor, executive vice president category development says: “Consumer media habits are evolving all the time and in the current economic conditions we need to think radically.
“Our new approach to media buying and planning introduces game-changing strategies in every aspect of how we communicate with our customers, which we need if we want to continue our track record of superior performance.”
He adds: “We have chosen two global media partners that will bring us new consumer insights, better capabilities in technology and systems and superior skills in ensuring that we build better consumer engagement strategies and executions.”
The process was managed by the company’s global media teams in London and New York..
Reckitt Benckiser launched its first corporate campaign in July.
