OMD Melbourne has been appointed to the consolidated media account for Asahi Beverages, which includes its alcohol drinks and Schweppes brands.
AdNews revealed earlier this year that the company was looking to change its media agency arrangements, with Carat and Vizeum holding the Schweppes and Asahi alcohol accounts respectively.
"After a long and extensive review, Asahi Beverages is excited to announce the appointment of OMD Melbourne as our agency of choice for media strategy and buying across all our Australian alcohol and non-alcohol brands, including Asahi Super Dry, Peroni, Schweppes and Solo," a spokesperson for Asahi Beverages says.
"Asahi would like to thank our incumbent agency, Carat for all their hard work and dedication over the past 15 years on our brands."
The consolidated account is worth upwards of $7 million. The moving of the account marks another key account loss for Carat, with Schweppes a foundation client for the agency.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Asahi Beverages into the OMD family. Their suite of iconic brands are household names, and we are delighted to partner with them as they consolidate the power of both the Asahi and Schweppes brands into one media agency," OMD Australia CEO Aimee Buchanan says.
"Their commercially minded, strategic focus aligns with the OMD way of thinking and we look forward to a successful partnership.”
It is also the second account OMD has snared from the Dentsu Aegis Network-owned agency in a week, with OMD's Brisbane officer snaring the $40 million Super Retail Group account last week.
This continues the run of success for OMD Australia, adding to recent wins including the $70m Suncorp account, home to brands such as GIO, AAMI, and APIA, as well as Belong, The Fork and Activision in 2018.
The account is another major loss for Carat, which has had a trying six months following the exits of both former Dentsu Aegis Network ANZ CEO Simon Ryan and Carat CEO Paul Brooks.
The agency has since lost major clients including Virgin Australia and Bega. Despite this, the agency has seen success in both Perth and Adelaide, retaining Cash Converters in WA, while being appointed to the SA Government's media panel.
TBWA Melbourne currently manages the Schweppes creative account, while The Monkeys won the creative account for Asahi last year, releasing their first work for the brand at the tail-end of 2018.
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