ZenithOptimedia Shanghai wins Bausch & Lomb media pitch in China

A spokesperson for Bausch & Lomb China confirmed the news to Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Bausch & Lomb called a media agency pitch in December in China, with Carat, MPG and ZenithOptimedia believed to be participating.

ZenithOptimedia will now hande the media business of all B&L products in China, including traditional and digital media.

Previously, GroupM’s Mindshare and MediaCom were the media agency partners for B&L for its contact lenses and Mioclear line of eyedrops, a local Chinese brand that B&L has acquired. Mediacom handled the brand's over-the-counter business unit.

Bausch & Lomb makes and markets China's leading brands of contact lens and lens care products; the company also sells its products for refractive and cataract surgery in China.

According to a report from Euromonitor, almost all multinational makers of contact lenses had presences in China, of which Johnson & Johnson took the largest market share, at 26.3 per cent in 2009, since it had been based in China for years and was quite a strong player in contact lenses. Meanwhile it continued to advertise to maintain the popularity of its brands.

The report cited that despite the current financial crisis, there is a steady demand for contact lenses in China and considerable potential for the industry to grow. China’s contact lenses market will grow of 9.3 per cent during 2009–2014, with annual demand set to reach US$537 million (RMB3.4 billion) in 2014.