Vizeum loses £15m Molson Coors media account

by Arif Durrani, mediaweek.co.uk 02-Nov-09, 11:00

LONDON - Molson Coors is ending a 20-year relationship with Aegis Media's Vizeum after shortlisting WPP's MediaCom and Publicis Groupe's ZenithOptimedia to battle for its £15m UK media business.

The company behind beer brands Carling, Grolsch and Coors Light was among Vizeum's founding clients in June 2003 and had been with its earlier incarnation, BBJ Media, for nearly 15 years prior to that.

Molson Coors launched a review of its UK media planning and buying in August, in a pitch process being handled by ISBA.

The four agencies originally shortlisted in the pitch were Vizeum, MediaCom, Mindshare and ZenithOptimedia.

A final decision is expected to be announced at the end of November.

Nicola Young, director of marketing (insight and communications) at Molson Coors, called the move to drop Vizeum "an extremely difficult decision" but said the company had been "overwhelmed by the quality of work" submitted during the pitch process.

In the 12 months to 31 May, the firm spent £11.6m on media according to The Nielsen Company, the bulk of which went on outdoor (£5m), followed by TV (£4.2m) and cinema (£1.7m).

Last month, Molson Coors promoted David Preston to interim marketing director, replacing Simon Davies who left the business in October after 13 years to start his own company.