Agency GroupM MediaCom has retained Mars Inc.’s operations in Australia following a comprehensive internal review, GroupM confirmed to Mumbrella.
It comes three and a half years after Mars appointed MediaCom to buy and plan its stable of brands, which includes M&Ms, Snickers, Whiskas, Smackos, Masterfoods and Wrigley.
The agreement includes each of the Mars Wrigley, Mars Petcare and Mars Food segments and will run through 2025.
Marks within Mars Inc
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According to Nielsen Ad Intel, Mars AU brought in around $20 million in ad spend in 2021, similar spend to Unilever.
Global scrutiny throughout 2021 came from Mars’ new “marketing vision”, called “Building Brands for Mutual Value”.
Yaron Farizon, CEO of MediaCom Australia, said: “Mars has been a long-time customer for us here in Australia and we are delighted and proud to continue our partnership with Mars locally, doing work that pushes the boundaries.
The expanded relationship will also engage agency GroupM Essence, helping Mars develop its “auction-based approach to media.” It is unclear what the local implications of this aspect will be.
Local CEO, Yaron Farizon
MediaCom global said, “Essence will enable Mars to reach and engage consumers, and will be responsible for Mars’ fast-growing programmatic, social and search video investment, establishing specialized regional hub capabilities in Europe, Asia and Latin America.”
Rankin Carroll, Chief Brand and Content Officer, Mars Wrigley and Executive Media Sponsor, Mars Inc. said, “We have laid out a detailed vision and operational plan for our next wave of media transformation at Mars. We’ve been impressed with WPP’s commitment to evolving its own integrated team to deliver on this vision, building on our trusted partnership with MediaCom, but adding innovative, digital-focused thinking from other partners. from GroupM, including Essence.
The company’s retention follows several other victories for the agency GroupM. This included a global consolidation with WPP for Coca-Cola in November, transferring the business to MediaCom locally from UM. The agency also benefited from a global review by pharmaceutical giant Bayer in September, moving its media account to Australia from Omnicom Media Group’s PHD agency.
In December, OMD’s Mike Worden was appointed Managing Director of MediaCom Sydney, the agency also promoted Adele Burke to Managing Director. Worden was appointed as a direct replacement for Ben McCallum, who moved to UM as MD in Sydney.
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