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Ferrero Group, the chocolate company encompassing the Kinder, Nutella and Tic Tac brands, awarded its U.S. media management duties to Dentsu Media agency iProspect at the end of February.
Given the agency already manages the majority of Ferrero’s budget outside the U.S., this win solidifies iProspect’s place as Ferrero’s media agency of record.
A source with knowledge of the review outcome spoke with ADWEEK about it on condition of anonymity. The incumbent, according to the source, was GroupM agency Mindshare.
The win makes Ferrero iProspect’s largest client—the type of account Dentsu Media’s been aiming for since undergoing drastic organizational changes last year. In December, iProspect won Ferrero’s international markets spanning the U.K., France, Germany, New Zealand and Thailand—the result of a separate review.
The Ferrero global account is worth an estimated $1.4 million, according to COMvergence data. In December, Dentsu won billings worth $598.3 million, Campaign reported. The brand split the rest between other partners Mindshare and Publicis Groupe. Of Ferrero’s total billings, North America accounts for an estimated $180 million.
Ebiquity, a consultancy with expertise in media investment strategy, managed the review process, a source confirmed. Ebiquity could not be reached for comment.
iProspect and Mindshare both declined to share details of the win, deferring comment to Ferrero.
“We can confirm that the Ferrero Group has announced a new partner to support its buying and media services in the U.S., but we are not providing any further comment at this time,” a representative wrote in an email to ADWEEK.
iProspect’s new era
The Ferrero win is a significant achievement for the media group, which includes agencies Carat, Dentsu X and iProspect, following a period of change. In August, Dentsu Media’s longtime CEO, Doug Rozen, resigned. Sean Reardon, previously the U.S. and global CEO of programmatic media firm MiQ, took over the executive job in December.
That move symbolized a bigger strategic shift for Dentsu Media. Namely, that the media group is integrating its agencies—and especially iProspect—with Merkle’s offering.
In August, around the time of Rozen’s departure, iProspect absorbed Merkle Media, the practice within Merkle serving clients like Albertsons and furniture retailer Ashley. Now combined with Merkle Media, iProspect has overtaken Carat as the group’s largest media agency, at least by revenue and headcount.
This, combined with Dentsu’s global reach, makes iProspect a reasonable fit for a brand like Ferrero. That would not necessarily have been the case previously, as Carat tended to compete for the group’s largest business opportunities.
As data and audience targeting solutions continue to be deciding factors in agency reviews, audience targeting platforms and technology like Dentsu Media’s Merkury platform (formerly called M1) are highly important to marketers, underscoring what’s driving some of these changes. Reardon has said he plans to relaunch Merkury officially later this year.
After iProspect absorbed Merkle Media, it named former Merkle chief media officer Liz Rutgersson its new North America CEO, a move that further illustrated iProspect’s importance to Dentsu Media’s Merkle integration strategy.
“This move brings the Merkle approach to media, combines it with the historical performance routes that iProspect is so well known for, and accelerates that connection between Merkle and what we can offer from a media perspective,” Rutgersson told ADWEEK at the time.
The media group’s begun attracting new business. Papa Johns is another high-profile client, which in November named Carat its U.S. media AOR. As iProspect’s largest account, Ferrero’s work with the agency will showcase what a revamped Dentsu Media can offer a global brand.
