MediaCom and Starcom split £100m GSK media brief

By Mark Banham and Katherine Levy, campaignlive.co.uk, Friday, 06 August 2010 02:35PM

GlaxoSmithKline has retained MediaCom to handle its £60 million UK media planning and buying account, but the WPP agency has lost some European business to Starcom MediaVest Group.

GSK: MediaCom and Starcom split brief

GSK, which owns brands including Lucozade and Aquafresh, has appointed Starcom  to  duties previously held by MediaCom in Germany, Austria, Swizterland, Spain and Portugal.

The review did not include Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, held by Starcom, and the US, held by MediaCom.

News of the review broke in October last year, but at the time was denied by the client, who officially announced the international review just months later in April 2010, when it said it was to review the account in "selected key markets" around the world.

At the time of the announcement of the review, Heribert Voss, president global efficiencies and simplification at GSK Consumer healthcare, said: "We have developed a number of initiatives to ensure our business is best-positioned for future growth. GSK is a leading global media spender that continues to increase its investments in media.

"This initiative will ensure GSK is also world-leading in media effectiveness and efficient with a highly effective balance of excellence in strategic planning and executional creative, combined with a very competitive cost base."

Separately, GSK is conducting a review of its UK Lucozade creative account.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk