RB or Reckitt Benckiser Group plc has made some changes in its global agency roster, most prominently moving creative and strategic work on the massive Lysol brand from Havas to McCann in what amounts to a consolidation with the IPG agency. (This also applies to the Dettol brand, which is essentially a different name for the same product as sold in various international markets.)
McCann previously only handled creative and strategy for Dettol in India while Havas worked on the brand across the rest of the world. The former will now be the Dettol/Lysol brand’s global creative and strategic agency of record.
This decision followed a standard internal review at RB. Havas will retain a significant portion of the larger company’s business, but its focus will shift, in part, from promoting these particular cleaning products to acting as “lead strategic and creative partner for new strategic initiatives” for the parent company.
We hear that the change occurred, in large part, due to McCann’s work for Dettol in India. It first won the business back in 2014 and went on to make ads like this one:
In the press release, EVP of global category development Roberto Funari says, “Dettol and Lysol are iconic brands and the quality of the strategic thinking and creativity we have seen from McCann has been outstanding. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Havas WW for their contribution to this brand over the last few years.”
In addition to the strategic initiatives assignment, Havas will continue to promote some of RB’s other unnamed “global power brands” as well as their local variations.
RB has been gradually sending more work to McCann Worldwide, and we understand that McCann New York will lead the global Lysol brand moving forward. Early last year, the company consolidated much of its vitamins and supplements business with the IPG agency due primarily to the work its New York team did on the Mucinex brand, which it won in May 2014 (see internal memo).
RB spent about $36.5 million on measured media for the Lysol brand in the U.S. for 2015, but given the global reach, this is a far larger win for McCann than that number might imply.