O&M nets Hellmann's job

Blow to Lowe as Unilever aligns £33m pan-Euro account into Ogilvy & Mather.

Ogilvy & Mather has won the £33 million pan-European Hellmann's
mayonnaise account. The appointment follows a decision by Unilever to
align its food brands across its roster networks.

The move is a blow for Lowe, which has handled the business in the UK

and in Europe, where the brand is known as Calve, since 2000.

O&M handles the brand in most other markets, including North America. It
will begin working on the brands in its new markets in January.

As part of the realignment, Lowe has been handed additional European
territories on the Unilever global Family Goodness account, which
includes the spreads Blue Band, Doriana and Rama.

It is unlikely, however, that the London office will produce local work
for any of these new brands.

Alan Jope, the Unilever group vice-president for spreads and dressings,
said: "Our global brands are being run in an ever more co-ordinated way,
and single agency alignment will help. This drive for greater alignment
will help us focus on generating synergies of ideas in brand visions,
communications ideas and innovation projects."

Campaign broke the news of the intended realignment, which was
rigorously denied at the time by Unilever and the networks involved,
last year (11 November).

It is an important win for Ogilvy's London agency. The account bills
£5 million in the UK alone and will augment O&M's Unilever output.
It currently handles the Dove, Sunsilk and Knorr accounts.

- Comment, page 44.