HHCL & Partners has lost its £10 million St Ivel Shape
account to St Ivel's roster agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, ten months
after winning it.
The agency move comes as St Ivel seeks to relaunch the yoghurts and
desserts brand for the second time in two years. AMV picked up the
account without a pitch, having lost out to HHCL in January's shake-up.
D'Arcy, the incumbent agency at the time, was not involved in the
review.
With sales of Shape falling 17 per cent last year, it is thought St Ivel
is keen to press ahead with a revamp and the brand will be relaunched in
the new year with new packaging, new product variants and a fresh
marketing push. When it appointed HHCL, the company upped its budget
four-fold in an attempt to boost sales. The brand was relaunched
previously to that in February 2000 with a £5 million campaign
through D'Arcy, which repositioned it as a full-fat product.
The move to AMV is a considerable boost to its existing hold on the St
Ivel accounts. It won the £9 million yellow fats account in
November last year, and also won the £3 million task to launch St
Ivel's olive-based spread, Carapelli.
HHCL's loss is another blow to the agency, which has also lost key
accounts including Egg and AA in recent weeks. Its TV work for Shape,
"Eat it like a bloke", showed women eating the products with
uncharacteristic masculine gusto, but is understood to have been
unpopular with the client.
HHCL claims activity on the brand was frozen shortly after the first
work due to a management reshuffle at St Ivel and a strategy rethink.
