Nestlé, owner of brands such as Nescafé and KitKat, has invited the two agencies to contest a series of market-level pitches across the region over the coming weeks in what is thought to be a bid to simplify its media relationships, currently split between as many as four providers in some countries, to one agency per market.
The review appears to squeeze out Universal Mc-Cann, which currently holds a large slice of the business in Greater China, as well as other players including Initiative and Starcom, which have smaller, brand-specific responsibilities in some markets. Universal declined to comment on any involvement in the review.
Excluding Japan, the Asia-Pacific business commands an estimated monitored media spend of around US$200 million, although the chances of one agency scooping the lot are slim. Nestlé is expected to select the winning agencies in the markets up for review sometime next month.
The next wave of reviews includes Greater China, which will be pitched as a single market, and much of Southeast Asia, although at press time it was not clear which SEA markets were being reviewed -- or if they were all going to pitch.
The Australia business, managed by Optimedia is not thought to be part of this wave of reviews and a question mark hangs over the timing of the review for South Asia.
The US$120 million Japanese brief was included in the first wave of the media review last year and was held by incumbent Dentsu. Nestlé could not be contacted for comment at press time.
This is thought to be the first time the company has co-ordinated its media review at a regional level in Asia, with the timing of previous pitches down to individual markets.