In December last year, it was reported that OMD and MediaCom were involved in a pitching tussle for the Fonterra media account. And now, after several months of speculation as to where the account would go, the dairy producer has confirmed that MediaCom has won the pitch.
Prior to vying for the New Zealand portion of Fonterra’s media business, MediaCom won the company’s $150 million media planning and buying business across ten markets in the Asia Pacific and Middle East, and Fonterra Brands NZ’s director of marketing Craig Irwin admits that this played a part in the decision to shift the business from the incumbent.
“Mediacom are our regional media partner in Asia and there are additional advantages that come with that relationship,” says Irwin.
But the director of marketing also added that this wasn’t the only consideration that contributed to the account moving across to MediaCom.
“We undertook a thorough review process with a number of different elements and stages. [And] at the end of the process MediaCom has won the account,” he says.
Although Fonterra’s media spend has decreased substantially from the $31.5 million (based on ratecard value) recorded by Nielsen AIS figures in the 2010/2011 financial year, this is still a significant win for MediaCom.
In the 2012/2013 financial year, Nielsen recorded Fonterra’s media spend at $19.8 million, up slightly from the $19 million spent in the year prior to that.
Irwin says that MediaCom will formally take over the Fonterra account from 1 April, which will mark the first time the account has changed hands in seven years.
