Allergan Sends U.S. Media Account to Spark Foundry Following Review
Company spent over $378 million on measured media domestically in 2018
Pharmaceutical company Allergan has concluded a review by selecting Spark Foundry as its U.S. media agency of record, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Adweek.
According to one source, Spark Foundry will be tasked with media strategy and planning, content and analytics for the U.S.
Allergan spent over $378 million on measured media in the U.S. in 2018, down from over $448 million in 2017, and a little over $72 million in the first quarter this year, according to Kantar Media.
Omnicom Media Group, Horizon and Merkle participated in the review, which began in November, but longtime incumbent MediaCom did not defend, according to sources.
Spark Foundry deferred to the client for comment. Allergan declined to comment.
MediaCom was first designated as media agency of record for Allergan’s consumer brands in the U.S. without a review in 2002 after previously handling media buying for its Botox brand.
Publicis announced its plans to merge Spark Foundry and Blue 449 into a single entity in March. Later that month, Spark Foundry won the global media account for MCM Worldwide and media buying and planning duties for the Entertainment division of NBC.
Patrick Coffee contributed reporting to this story.
