Pfizer Assigns Purell Creative to JWT

NEW YORK WPP Group’s J. Walter Thompson has landed creative duties on Purell hand sanitizer, a brand that Pfizer acquired from GOJO Industries last year, the agency confirmed.

Major media spending for the brand was around $4 million in 2003 and nearly $5 million in the first 10 months of 2004, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Going forward, ad spending is expected to rise, possibly to as high as $20 million, said sources.

JWT’s New York office, a Pfizer roster shop that also handles over-the-counter brands such as Listerine and Sudafed, acquired the assignment without a review, sources said.