Mondelez has launched a review of its global media buying and planning business with the goal of consolidating its roster, AdAge reports. The company, whose snack brands include Oreo, Ritz, Chips Ahoy and Wheat Thins, spent $179 on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media, and $1.76 billion on global measured media in 2013, according to the Ad Age DataCenter.
Incumbent agencies Dentsu Aegis Media and Starcom MediaVest will compete for more business across multiple snack categories and five regions. Incumbent regional agencies PHD in the U.K. and Madison in India were not invited to participate in the review. The move follows a review in 2012 in which Mondelez consolidated its media roster from twelve agencies to four after being spun off from Kraft. Mondelez told AdAge that the review is expected to conclude by early fall, with appointments taking effect on January 1st. “Our current media agencies are terrific partners and the decision to conduct a media review is not performance-related,” a company spokeswoman added.
“This next phase of our media buying transformation will further simplify our agency infrastructure, leverage our scale and build our capabilities, especially in the areas of e-commerce and content monetization,” Bonin Bough, chief media and e-commerce officer at Mondelez, said in a statement. “Having two core media buying agencies globally also offers us a significant opportunity to drive efficiencies that we can re-invest to fuel our growth.”
Mondelez joins a growing field of companies undergoing media reviews, with General Mils, Sony, Volkswagen Group, BASF, GoDaddy and P&G launching reviews last month alone.