P&G Hands Saatchi Sunny D in Europe

Kevin Roberts, the new worldwide chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi, has fulfilled his promise to lead the agency into new product categories with global client Procter & Gamble.
Saatchi has won the estimated $15 million assignment to launch P&G's Sunny Delight in Europe, sources said.
P&G plans to roll out Sunny Delight, the leading U.S. chilled fruit drink brand, with Saatchi ads in the United Kingdom next spring. Continental Europe will follow later, sources said.
The win is the first time Saatchi will handle a beverage brand for the Cincinnati client. The shop currently works in several of P&G's categories globally: detergents with Tide, health and beauty aids with Oil of Olay and Head & Shoulders, paper with Pampers and bar soaps with Zest.
N.W. Ayer & Partners, New York, handles the $30 million Sunny Delight account in the U.S. The shop was not considered for the European assignment due to its lack of a global network and P&G's strategy of aligning global brands with global agencies, sources said. Ayer, owned by The MacManus Group here, had hoped to build its international network by opening European offices with accounts such as Sunny Delight.
At the PaineWebber Media Conference last week, Roberts said Saatchi has won 35 new P&G assignments in recent months, including Head & Shoulders in Japan, Pampers in China and a new global Oil of Olay assignment.
Entering new categories for P&G and winning more regional business from Toyota are two of Saatchi's key priorities in its "first 100 days" as a public company, said Roberts. Saatchi & Saatchi PLC began trading publicly today following the "demerger" of parent Cordiant. Roberts declined comment on Sunny Delight; P&G could not be reached.