…as agency wins 3.5m UDV task
Lowe Howard-Spink has picked up the UK Bailey’s and Malibu accounts, worth a combined total of 3.5m (ACNielsen-Meal), from Court Burkitt & Company as a result of UDV’s global advertising review.
UDV is pushing international brands into international networks and the Lowe Group already handles Bailey’s, Malibu, Smirnoff and Sheridans outside the UK.
UDV UK marketing controller Tim O’Donnell says: “The strategy is to maximise brand synergies across all markets.”
In response to its increased responsibility on the UDV roster, Lowe & Partners Worldwide has appointed Rae Burdon to the newly created position of worldwide account director on its UDV business. Burdon was previously deputy managing director of McCann-Erickson in London.
Leo Burnett and J Walter Thompson are the two other networks likely to benefit from the shake-out.
But CBC, the agency which launched Malibu in the early 1980’s, will not go away empty handed. It has won the 1.5m Bell’s whisky account from WCRS and O’Donnell says there are no plans to move the Archers brand from CBC at present.
“It is an international brand but it is handled out of the UK heartland by CBC. Archers is growing in places like Ireland and South Africa but the UK is still by far the biggest market,” adds O’Donnell.
WCRS has retained the Classic Malts, a UDV brand, but it is understood that advertising for this brand will be reviewed shortly.
Still to be decided is UDV’s 30m media account. Western International Media and TMD Carat are the final two in the running since Mindshare was knocked off the shortlist.
