Mars has confirmed it has appointed Starcom to handle its entire consolidated media account across Australia and New Zealand, as uncovered by AdNews yesterday.
The agency has been appointed after a three-way tussle which also involved OMD and MediaCom.
Mars said in a statement: “Since Wrigley joined Mars Incorporated in 2008, there have been some unique opportunities to leverage scale and synergies across the organisation to drive growth and strengthen competitive advantage.
“As part of a global initiative, Mars ANZ has undertaken a media planning and buying review for all four segments of Mars Chocolate, Mars Food, Mars Petcare and Wrigley.
“Following the competitive pitch process, Starcom has been appointed as the new Mars cross-segment media agency for both Australia and New Zealand.
“We would like to thank OMD and Total Media for their long standing contribution to our business, and also to Mediacom for their participation in the pitch process.”
Starcom was the incumbent on the majority of the media account, including Mars Food, Mars Petcare and Mare Chocolate.
OMD was the incumbent on Wrigley in Australia, while Total Media was the incumbent in New Zealand.
The pitch has come in the wake of Mars' US$23 billion acquisition of Wrigley in 2008, which led to a desire to consolidate.
One source has suggested that Starcom was always the most likely winner, because it was the incumbent on the acquiring entity Mars, while OMD worked on the acquired business Wrigley.
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