Leo Burnett loses Coca-Cola account to McCann in China

Creative duties for the core Coke brand have shifted to McCann Shanghai from Leo Burnett Shanghai following a pitch led by McCann's Tomaz Mok (chairman), Cia Hatzi (regional business director) and Ellen Hou (group managing director).

McCann had lost this same account in 2007 to Leo Burnett when the client set up a new unit called Red Lounge that combines members of Coke's marketing team with several other agencies including Starcom, Wwwins and Heartland.

According to industry sources, the shift will not affect BBH, Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi, which handle Coke brands Sprite, Fanta and Minute Maid, respectively.

Neither Leo Burnett nor McCann responded to requests for comment. A McCann spokesperson referred all questions to the client, whose representative could not be reached by press time.