- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Six agencies are competing to handle U.S creative duties on Levi's, sources said.
 
Sources identified the shops as Omnicom Group units Cutwater and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, both in San Francisco; WPP Group units Young & Rubicam and Ogilvy & Mather, both in New York; and independents Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., and Anomaly in New York.
 
Client executives briefed the shops last month, and final presentations are slated for early December, according to sources. The agencies either declined comment or could not be reached, and the San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. could not immediately be reached. Jones Lundin Beals in Chicago is managing the process.
 
Major media spending on the brand totaled nearly $80 million last year and almost $20 million in the first half of 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
 
The incumbent, Publicis Groupe-backed Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York, opted not to defend. BBH, which also works for Levi's in Europe and Asia, had handled the U.S account since 2001.
 
The creative review comes on the heels of a media planning and buying review for Levi's and sister brand Dockers that Omnicom Group's OMD in Los Angeles won. Jones Lundin Beals managed that process as well.