Publicis Media retains China, UK and wins Italy in Ferrero review

Campaign reported in March that privately owned Ferrero was reviewing its media planning and buying in up to 100 markets around the world but the bulk of the spend is focused on key territories.

Dentsu International, Publicis Media and WPP are among the key agency groups on the media account.

Industry sources suggested the client has changed agency in more than a dozen markets with a number of agencies winning and losing accounts.

WPP’s Mindshare previously handled media for Ferrero in Italy, which is thought to be the biggest market in Europe for the company behind brands including Kinder, Nutella and Ferrero Rocher.

The Italian media account is worth up to €150m (£128m), according to Engage, an Italian business publication, which reported Publicis Media’s win.

Publicis Media’s Starcom has been the incumbent in the UK since 2019.

Ferrero has been aggressively expanding from Europe in recent years, opening a factory in China in 2015 and acquiring several US brands from Nestlé in 2018 and Kellogg in 2019.

In late 2019 it moved much of its media buying and planning, then estimated to be worth as much as $950m globally, from PHD to Mindshare, including the key US portion.

However, a later review in the UK did not go entirely smoothly. Both Starcom and incumbent PHD were considered and both initially failed to agree terms with Ferrero before Starcom was appointed.

A few months later, Starcom also won the business in China, from Dentsu International’s Carat. 

Publicis Media, Mindshare and Dentsu International declined to comment.