MediaCom has picked up the media planning account for Mars. The win is a coup during a "difficult time" for MediaCom Australia which is in the midst of an audit process following the identification of a number of irregularities on clients' TV audience reporting.
The move away from Starcom, is part of a consolidation of Mars' global media planning into one agency. MediaCom Australia has confirmed to AdNews that it is picking up planning on the account, understood to be worth around $60 million, with the buying to stay with Starcom.
According to AdWeek, the global chocolate brand took the decision to consolidate its media agencies into one, after it had at one stage employed eight agencies to do its planning with Starcom doing the bulk of it.
The brand had previously said it was consolidating its media planning by the end of the year.
"This change brings our planning model in line with our existing global advertising agency structure and will allow us to further focus media as a growth driver. With the constant change in the media landscape, this new agency will allow us to better collaborate across our global business to drive efficiency, effectiveness and coordination in our media planning," a spokesperson told AdWeek.
The local account win includes all four Mars divisions incorporating Wrigley, Chocolate, Food, and Petcare.
MediaCom's local CEO Mark Pejic confirmed the agency had heard the news this morning, and the Australia account is on its way to MediaCom.
“It's definitely a great pick me up in a difficult time for the agency,” Pejic said.
“It's really the benefit of being part of a great network.”
The win comes at a time when auditors from Ernst&Young are currently checking the books of MediaCom and other GroupM agencies after irregularities in reporting TV data were found late last month.
The auditors are expected to have wrapped up the process in mid-January.
For more news:
MediaCom exits linked to overcharging
How MediaCom's dynamite exploded
Foxtel switches from MediaCom to Mindshare
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