Two to battle for Sara Lee's media

ASIA-PACIFIC- Following Carat's ousting in the first round, ZenithOptimedia has also been eliminated from the US$25 million Sara Lee regional media pitch, leaving two agencies - Maxus and Starcom Mediavest - in the fray.

According to sources, Carat was eliminated at RFP stage while ZenithOptimedia was ousted in the second round.

OMD had earlier withdrawn from the pitch because of conflict with Reckitt Benckiser, one of the Omnicom network's largest globally aligned clients. Starcom MediaVest Group replaced OMD on the pitch list.

Sara Lee's regional marketing director Mario Salvatore confirmed that the media review is on but refused to reveal the names of short listed agencies, only saying that an agency will be appointed next month.

GroupM is the incumbent in most markets.