PepsiCo has moved its international advertising for the fizzy drink, 7-
Up, from the BBDO network to Ogilvy and Mather, a move that will relieve
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO of its pounds 1 million 7-Up advertising
business in this country.
The win will add another dollars 15-20 million to the global billings of
O&M, which already handles the rival soft drink, Lucozade. However, an
agency spokesman said neither Lucozade’s parent company, SmithKline
Beecham, nor PepsiCo, considered there to be a significant conflict
between the two.
O&M’s new 7-Up assignment spans the 120 countries in which PepsiCo
markets the drink. It does not include the US, where the brand is
marketed by Cadbury Schweppes. Cadbury awarded 7-Up’s advertising to
Young and Rubicam New York in July.
The 7-Up shift consolidates PepsiCo’s so-called ‘flavour brands’ within
O&M and brings worldwide PepsiCo billings for O&M to dollars 100
million. O&M already works for PepsiCo on flavoured drinks such as
Mirinda, an orange-flavoured soft drink, and the Radical Fruit Company
range.
BBDO continues to handle PepsiCo’s core cola business including brands
such as Pepsi-Cola and Pepsi Max.
A PepsiCo spokesman in the US said: ‘We have two very strong agency
partners - O&M and BBDO. We believe very strongly in the two-agency
relationship. Because of the size of our business it makes good
strategic sense to consolidate our flavour brands within one agency. O&M
has done some fantastic work on Mirinda and it is logical to take this
step.’
He added: ‘This gives BBDO the opportunity to concentrate on our core
cola business which represents 70 per cent of our total volume.’
Mike Walsh, the O&M chairman, was unavailable for comment as Campaign
went to press.
