Unilever seeks to integrate global digital roster

The FMCG giant has hired US-based intermediary MediaLink to handle the review, and will allow roster and non-roster agencies to participate.

 

Agencies currently on the Unilever digital roster include Ogilvy & Mather, Razorfish, Engine, R/GA, Lowe Profero, Weber Shandwick and Edelman.

 

Keith Weed, the chief marketing and communications officer at Unilever, hinted at a need to integrate its digital agency network at a debate hosted by The & Partnership and moderated by Campaign’s editor-in-chief, Claire Beale, at Cannes this year.

 

He said: "Mobile agencies will offer a 110 per cent solution for mobile or social, but what I want is a 110 per cent solution for the brand – even if it’s only 85 per cent mobile."

 

In a recent piece for Campaign's sister magazine Marketing, Weed also reiterated the need for all agencies to be more integrated. He said agencies needed to "retake the initiative of leading the multi-agency approach, even if all the agencies are not in their holding company".

 

Weed explained it was to "prioritise the brands’ best interests" and that "building a network of close working relationships [was] required to build brands at scale".

 

This month Unilever revealed its Q2 results, which showed underlying sales growth of 3.8 per cent, but failed to reach analysts' expectations of 4.3 per cent.

 

Unilever was unable to comment on the review.

 

Also read: Cannes Lions 2014: ‘The threat of fragmentation is real’: Keith Weed, Unilever

 

(This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk)