"It's inevitable. The ink is pretty much dry on it," a senior BBDO source said.
The loss will be a serious one for the agency. The account is the largest billing at Shop and spent £13.2 million in the year ending 31 January on above-the-line advertising, according to Nielsen Media Research. The figure represents 76 per cent of Shop's £17.4 million total billings.
Mercedes hired BBDO to refine the creative work of its German lead agency, Jung von Matt, across more than 150 territories in December.
