US DMB&B ‘parts ways’ with Kraft

D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles North America, hit by Kraft Food’s decision last month to dispose of its bakery interests, has this week left the company’s creative roster after 66 years.

DMB&B, which will continue to handle media buying for the Philip Morris subsidiary through its TeleVest arm, loses about $50m (31m) in billings.

“When Kraft announced the sale of brands ranging from Boboli to Entermann’s to CPC International for $865m (547m) we asked Kraft how we were going to continue to grow with it. We felt the bakery division was our engine for growth. It said it had a big roster of agencies it was happy with, and we agreed to part ways,” says DMB&B/North America president Richard Hopple.

The agency had no links with Kraft outside the US and is confident it will now retain the $20m (12.6m) bakery business at CPC. DMB&B is already on the CPC roster in South America and Italy.

Kraft’s decision reduces its agency roster to six in the US. The former DMB&B brands – Cool Whip, Crystal Light, Good Seasons salad dressings and Crystal Light drinks – are being shared out among J Walter Thompson, Foote Cone & Belding and Leo Burnett.

DMB&B, which claims worldwide billings of $5.3bn (3.35bn), is a roster agency for other food brands including Pillsbury, Ralston and Mars.