Unilever selects two agencies for frozen food CRM

by Ben Bold,, Marketing 12-Jan-05, 07:00

LONDON - Unilever Ice Cream & Frozen Food has hired Tullo Marshall Warren and Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel to handle customer relationship marketing activity for its Birds Eye and Walls Carte D'Or brands respectively.

It had been thought that the FMCG giant was planning to consolidate the million-pound business into a single consultancy.

However, it has decided to appoint the two direct shops to handle the brands separately, following a strategy review first revealed by Marketing last month.

In June, Unilever global media director Alan Rutherford was revealed to be examining the use of relationship marketing across the company's FMCG brands.

Having trialled CRM on a limited basis for several of its frozen food ranges, the firm plans to step up activity, using direct mail and online.

The two agencies will use Unilever's customer databases to cross-sell its products more effectively. The appointments come as the company considers shifting spend from traditional advertising to direct marketing.

The work was previously split between a number of agencies, including Joshua, The Marketing Store and Zentropy Partners, which handled its online activity. Joshua declined to pitch for the business.

The Birds Eye and Walls Carte D'Or brands spent a combined £1.6m on direct marketing in the year to October 31, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Unilever embarked on a £60m global revamp of Birds Eye last February to revitalise the frozen food category. The relaunch was supported by a £30m ad campaign by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, which won the business in late 2003.

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