Lindt lines up Grey to take on UK advertising account
Luxury chocolate manufacturer Lindt is tipped to appoint Grey to handle its 4m UK advertising account.
Luxury chocolate manufacturer Lindt is tipped to appoint Grey to handle its £4m UK advertising account.
The agency is understood to have won the business following a final pitch against Leo Burnett that was overseen by The Haystack Group. Beattie McGuinness Bungay pulled out at an earlier stage.
Lindt called the review two months ago (MW October 12), more than two years after parting company with previous incumbent Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH). The company has not retained an above- the-line agency in the UK since, although it is thought to have used Banc to adapt ads from Europe.
The premium chocolate brand, which is owned by German parent company Lindt & Sprungli, split from BBH in 2004. The agency won the business two years earlier following a pitch against Banc, Banks Hoggins O’Shea/FCB and Saatchi & Saatchi.
No one at Lindt, Grey or Leo Burnett would comment but it is understood that Grey is in the final stages of negotiations with the company. The above-the-line review follows the appointment of Carbon Marketing to develop an experiential Easter campaign for the brand.
A recent reorganisation in Lindt’s marketing department saw former Colgate-Palmolive marketer Giles Jepson become its new marketing director after Michael Kudera left the company.
Rival Godiva, the luxury Belgian chocolate manufacturer, consolidated its £3m global advertising account into New York agency Margeotes/Fertitta & Partners last year. The decision saw the brand’s European agency, HHCL/Red Cell (now United), dropped from its roster (MW April 14, 2005).
HHCL had been appointed to relaunch the brand in Europe and Japan the previous year as it looked to take on the likes of Lindt and Charbonnel & Walker.
