Mondelēz consolidates media with Carat across region

The remit covers Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Carat will take over the business starting in 2014. The agency already holds the snack-food giant's media duties in China, Australia and New Zealand. 

Estimates place the yearly adspend for the territory at up to US$100 million.

Nick Waters, CEO of Aegis Media Asia-Pacific, confirmed the win when contacted by Campaign Asia-Pacific, but declined to comment beyond saying he is delighted with the win.

The change comes as a result of a media review the brand started in 2012 after it became independent from Kraft Foods.

In a statement, Mondelēz said the move brings the majority of its global spend under two agencies: Aegis, which took over Western Europe (except the UK and Ireland) in late 2012, and Starcom MediaVest, which recently won the EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) region after taking sole possession of North and South America in a consolidation in January 2013. 

Aegis Media is already a "valuable partner for Asia Pacific", Bonin Bough, the company's VP for global media and consumer engagement, said in the statement. “Our current media agencies are terrific and highly valued partners of the business and the decision to consolidate is not performance based,” he added. Rather, the aim of the global review has been to find a fresh approach to address "the key differences in the way Mondelēz International is doing business" as a new company.