Mars puts BBDO in charge of global creative for rice brand Uncle Ben's

The review started in September 2009 when Mars decided to reorganise their agency roster, including BBDO, DDB, SapientNitro and TBWA, and unify the core brands across their portfolio in major global markets.

“As one of our billion dollar brands, Uncle Ben's has done well under current agency management, and with this consolidation, we are very optimistic about its future performance,” said Bruce McColl, global chief marketing officer at Mars.

Uncle Ben’s in the US was under TBWA Chiat Day. According to Kantar Media Research, the global media spend for the rice brand in 2009 was US$60 million.

BBDO also regained the Mars Snickers account and added the Wrigley and Extra brands to their portfolio last year.

In China, MEC, OMD, Starcom and Zenith Media are currently going head-to-head in a US$120 million media pitch for Mars-Wrigley.