Unilever reappoints Mindshare to European media business
Unilever has reappointed Mindshare to handle its media planning and buying account in Western Europe, North America and Canada.
The fmcg company that owns brands including Dove and Persil began a global review six months ago.
Mindshare will continue to handle Unilever’s media accounts in the UK.
The review is thought to have involved Omnicom’s PHD, which previously handled the account in Canada and Interpublic’s Initiative, which is thought to have retained the business in Latin America and picked up Russia and Mexico.
In a separate review that ended last month, Omnicom’s PHD was appointed to handle Unilever’s media in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Unilever spent about £150m last year on media in the UK as part of a £700m pan European spend.
Laura Klauberg, Unilever vice president global media, says: “We are extremely pleased with the outstanding portfolio of agencies that will be working on our behalf around the world. The outcome of the review further strengthens Unilever’s position as a leading marketing organisation, and will allow us to reach even more consumers in more effective ways.”
“As we increasingly make use of digital and social media, we are confident that we have the best agency partners to help us engage in new ways with the 2 billion consumers whose lives we touch. In addition, greater alignment within our key country clusters will contribute to achieving exceptional results for our business in an increasingly complex and fragmented media environment.”
Last week, the consumer goods’ group posted a 1.8% rise in fourth-quarter sales, driven by strong volume growth and a 3.5% increase in underlying sales.
It revealed recently that it plans to recruit 30 marketers and a UK brand director to beef up its marketing capacity, and follow the strategy to include Unilever corporate branding on all its product campaigns with the aim of building greater recognition of the group.
