Douwe Egberts accounts up for grabs

Sara Lee is seeking agencies to handle the advertising and below-the-line accounts for its Douwe Egberts instant coffee brand.

It is understood the review is in its early stages and the company is considering appointing either an integrated agency or group to handle the whole account, or appointing separate agencies to the two pieces of business.

It is not clear whether there is an incumbent agency as the brand has received limited support in the past few years. Sara Lee was unavailable to comment on the review at the time Marketing Week went to press.

Last year, Sara Lee promoted Julie Baker to general manage of the company’s UK tea and coffee business, which includes Douwe Egberts. Her appointment came in the wake of a number of executive level changes at Sara Lee, with Nick van Holstein appointed as president of the H&BC division, following the promotion of Gary Brown to head of the division for Asia (MW October 4, 2007).

The review comes at a time of renewed activity in the instant coffee market, with Kraft also reviewing the advertising for its Kenco coffee brand. JWT, Euro RSCG and Beattie McGuinness Bungay are pitching for the account (MW May 1).