Nestlé rewards media pair after A-P reviews

The Greater China planning and buying business, which was pitched as one market, has gone to MindShare, while the comparatively smaller Zenith India network is believed to have defeated a GroupM/MEC team, led by MEC's Asia-Pacific chairman and CEO Andre Nair, for the sizeable India account. Zenith declined comment. In Thailand, it emerged that the business has been awarded to WPP's media buying structure GroupM, giving the WPP seven markets in Asia-Pacific, which as a whole commands an estimated monitored spend of US$200 million, excluding Japan. On top of India, Zenith has also enjoyed wins in six European markets, including Spain, Portugal, Greece and Romania in the last four weeks. The regional assignments will be taken off a variety of agencies, chiefly Universal McCann in Greater China and Thailand. Brand-specific responsibilities were also handled by Initiative in Thailand, Starcom and Zenith in Hong Kong and Dentsu in China. The Thai assignment begins in January 2006 and covers all brands in Nestlé's portfolio, home to labels such as Milo, Nescafé, Bear Brand and KitKat. A statement released by MindShare Thailand CEO Kevin Clarke stated that GroupM would set up a dedicated unit to service Nestlé, which spent about 675 million baht (US$16.4 million) in the first nine months of this year, according to monitored data. The Thai win has, however, raised eyebrows in the market, where local reports point to MindShare establishing a partnership with Prakit Holding CEO Prakit Apisarnthanarak to help win the business and subsequently help staff the new team. Sources say Prakit has a long-established relationship with Nestlé and his agency was one of four incumbents on the business. Prakit did not return Media's calls, but was quoted in Tharn Settakij, a Thai business title, saying: "I have once proposed this same deal as MindShare to Zenith, which is...currently taking care of Nestlé. However, Zenith is not interested in the offer, but MindShare (is)." The Greater China win for MindShare follows a protracted review that kicked off in the second quarter and was delayed as a result of a health scare PR crisis involving Nestlé's infant milk powder brand that erupted in the mainland at mid-year. Along with the latest wins, MindShare won earlier pitches for the Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore assignments. Nestlé's $120 million Japanese brief, which was included in the first wave of the media review conducted last year, was retained by incumbent Dentsu.