Holding groups line up for Unilever media review

Globally, Unilever's annual advertising spend is in excess of US$5 billion.

Currently most of Unilever’s media services are provided by agencies from within the marketing groups. All three agency groups will be invited to repitch for the account.

The markets under review include India and China. The others are Argentina, Mexico, North America, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Russia.

In Asia the pitch will be led by Rahul Welde, the Singapore-based VP of media for Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey.

Mindshare holds the bulk of Unilever’s business in the region, and was responsible for the much-lauded tie-up between Unilever and the Chinese version of Ugly Betty. Universal McCann holds some accounts in Australia and Taiwan.

In India, Unilever's spend is estimated by one media buyer to make up around 18 per cent of the entire ad market. Between January and March this year it spent Rs 450 crore ($93 million). It is easily Mindshare's biggest client in the market.

One holding group insider said the pitch had been “coming for some time”. He added that it was believed that Unilever’s local markets would continue to have input into selection of their agencies. It is not thought that Unilever is looking to consolidate with a single global group.

“As we drive media innovation and improved value for Unilever, and as dramatic changes in the media landscape reshape our communication needs, we are continuing to evaluate the service and capabilities of our media agency partners across all disciplines,” said Laura Klauberg, Unilever VP global media, in a release. “Unilever has undergone significant change over the last four or five years and this review gives us the opportunity to find the optimum solutions for our business.”

The review process will begin later this month.