L'Oreal China calls TV buying pitch

The pitch is part of a mandatory review that L'Oreal calls every two years.

GroupM and ZenithOptimedia currently split the account in China and are believed to be repitching for the business.

Universal McCann is also believed to be involved in the review. Presentation meetings will take place this week, which will be followed by a second round for cost bidding.

Global management consultancy Accenture has been invited to act as the third-party moderator.

Publicis is L’Oreal’s global creative agency and ZenithOptimedia is the global media partner. GroupM also handles some media assignments.

“L’Oreal is one of the top-selling cosmetic brands in China with substantial media investment. It is growing and becoming more active and in recent years acquired some Chinese cosmetic brands including Yusei and Mini Nurse,” said one source.

Media spend for TV only in China was an estimated Rmb 2 billion in 2008, with ads running on CCTV and regional and provincial TV stations.

China’s cosmetics market is the second-largest in Asia-Pacific after Japan. TNS is predicting market growth of 20 per cent in 2009.