Walt Disney Company is reviewing its $18.2 million media buying and planning account in Australia and New Zealand, AdNews can reveal.
AdNews understands the review is being run from Melbourne and the agencies involved are in the throws of presentations.
Carat has held the account since 2009, when it took the business from Mindshare in a two-way pitch with Starcom MediaVest.
The last time the business reviewed, Carat held off Ikon, Starcom and PHD, the latter had held the account in New Zealand at that time.
Carat's former chief strategy officer Gavin Ashcroft joined Disney as its CMO shortly after the agency last retained the business in 2015. Ashcroft was made Disney's VP of content and customer experience at the start of 2017.
Walt Disney Company assets that impact this market include Disney's own film and television assets, ESPN, Pixar, Lucasfilm (the makers of Star Wars), Pixar and Marvel Studios.
In the past year, the company has produced some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters, including the new Star Wars films, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, which is projected to gross $2 billion in worldwide ticket sales in one of the biggest northern summer launches in history.
The Disney Theatrical Group is a separate division that currently uses Slingshot for its media buying and planning needs.
After a relatively quiet 2017, the media pitching merry-go-round has really picked up pace in recent months.
The media accounts of Hyundai, Mercedes, Ford, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestle, Mars, Revlon, Shell and Football Federation Australia are all currently under review, several at a global level.
There have also been recent decisions on Microsoft, Belong, Jaguar Land Rover, The Warehouse Group, NIB and the Federal Government.
AdNews will continue to provide updates on all account reviews as and when they happen.
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