Coca-Cola drops Jiwin in favour of Memac Ogilvy PR

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has handed its regional public relations business to Memac Ogilvy PR, removing it from incumbent Jiwin.

The handover of the account took place last week, with Memac Ogilvy PR – part of the Memac Ogilvy Group – taking up the reins as Coca-Cola’s contractual obligation to Jiwin expired. Jiwin had handled the account since September 2007 following a successful pitch bid. The same pitch saw Memac Ogilvy come a close second.

The move signifies the company’s desire to consolidate its business by working with an existing partner – Memac Ogilvy handles aspects of Coca-Cola’s creative and media accounts – said Antoine Tayyar, public affairs and communications manager, Coca-Cola Middle East.

“What we need in the next period is to have more presence in markets and Ogilvy PR has this,” said Tayyar. “It was a streamlining of the business. We selected one of the agencies that work with us also on creative and media and we consolidated in this area, PR, into an agency that works with us. There wasn’t a need a need to do a major pitch, because at the end of the day we don’t have hundreds of creative [agencies] we work with. And previously, a couple of years back when there was pitch done, Ogilvy was one of the top two.”

Memac has taken on responsibilities with immediate effect, handling the introduction of a new visual identity for Coca-Cola brand Sprite and the Coke Light integrated campaign ‘Very Important Apartment’.

Ronald Howes, regional managing director of Memac Ogilvy GCC, said: We look forward to further strengthening our relationship with Coca-Cola in the weeks and months to come.”

Emirates hands its UK advertising account to VCCP

Emirates has moved its $5.7 million UK advertising account out of incumbent Leagas Delaney and into VCCP’s London office without a pitch.

VCCP, which had an office in Abu Dhabi and works with clients such as Qatari Financial Centre, was asked to handle the business after its presentation to the airline as part of the $270 million global advertising account, which was put up for pitch in June.

Leagas Delaney, which has handled the UK account for five years, was not asked to defend the business and is not involved in the global review.

The UAE-based airline spent around $5.7 million on advertising in the UK last year, the bulk of which went on promoting its long-haul flights.

An Emirates spokesman admitted that the account had moved but said it had nothing to do with the global review.

He said: We can confirm that Leagas Delaney is being replaced by VCCP. This is entirely unconnected with the pitch for a global marcomms agency. It is purely a UK appointment by Emirates.”

This is the first time VCCP has worked for Emirates. However, the VCCP Group-owned brand promotion specialist Branded Moments of Truth worked on a project for the airline three years ago, and Bell Pottinger, which is part of the VCCP parent Chime Communications, handles the airline’s public relations.

Charles Vallance, one of VCCP’s founding partners, has an essay titled The Art of Unlearning in today’s new issue of Campaign.