Nestlé China picks Dentsu for US$300 million media account

Nestlé has selected Dentsu as its media agency in China, beating out incumbent Mindshare as well as Publicis Media, Campaign understands.

Dentsu participated in the pitch as an integrated service solutions team under the Dentsu brand, having recently completed a restructure that brings all of the former Dentsu Aegis Network brands under one umbrella.

The account is thought to cover strategy, planning and buying and includes five divisions: Nestlé, Wyeth, Totole, HFC and Haoji.

Campaign first broke news that the FMCG giant had put a tender out for the US$300 million account in late September.

Digital transformation and ecommerce are said to have been critical parts of the review, according to sources.

Dentsu takes over from GroupM's Mindshare, which won a consolidated remit from the client in 2018.

Campaign understands that Publicis Media was also vying for the business. Publicis agencies Zenith and Publicis One wrestled Nestlé's business in Singapore and Malaysia away from Mindshare in 2018.

R3 was the pitch consultant on the account.

Campaign has reached out to Nestlé, Mindshare, Publicis Groupe and R3 for official comment, but received no responses as of the time of publication.

Dentsu declined the comment request.