GroupM’s Nestlé USA win truly was a team effort.
To land Nestlé ’s U.S. media planning and buying business, GroupM tapped executives from all its media agencies, including MediaCom, MEC, Mindshare and Maxus, according to sources.
As such, there’s no lead agency now per se, but rather a collective of talent that will service the account in New York and Los Angeles, near Nestlé ’s U.S. headquarters in Glendale. GroupM, the media division of WPP Group, will coordinate the effort.
As a Nestlé representative put it, “GroupM brought forth a ‘One Nestlé Team’ point of view that leverages the best talent and expertise throughout their agency network.”
While the approach is unusual for GroupM, an account the size of Nestlé ’s certainly warrants extra resources. Nestlé, whose brands include Butterfinger, Häagen-Dazs, Nescafé, Nestea and Stouffers, spent more than $723 million in media last year, up from about $690 million in 2011, according to Nielsen. And those figures don’t include online spending.
The review pitted incumbent ZenithOptimedia, a unit of Publicis Groupe, against GroupM’s team, according to sources. The agencies declined to comment.
While GroupM’s relationship with the Nestlé in the U.S. is new, the division’s agencies work for the global food and beverage giant overseas. Mindshare, for example, has business in the U.K., Asia-Pacific region, Africa and Mexico, and MEC is a roster shop in Eastern Europe. Also, MediaCom handles Nestlé brands in Scandinavia.
     |