Just Eat set to hand newly-unified global creative account to McCann
Just Eat is to hand its newly-unified creative account to McCann following a lengthy review process, The Drum understands.
The Drum understands McCann is set to pick up the global business
The creative shop pitched against Mother, VCCP owner Chime and Anomaly for the consolidated business.
McCann declined to comment. At the time of writing, Just Eat did not respond to The Drum's request for more information.
Just Eat kicked off, and then paused, a review of its advertising in the UK back in February before turning the pitch into a global one. It invited British incumbent of just two years Karmarama to re-pitch for the international brief, but the Accenture-owned agency declined.
The review was initiated by the food firm's UK marketing director, Ben Carter, seven months ago. It was halted shortly afterwards in March when Just Eat appointed chief customer officer Peter Duffy to replace Barnaby Dawe, who jumped ship to Pret A Manger.
McCann is believed to have emerged as the winner after the brand took the decision to centralise its ad account in its biggest markets with a single creative agency, in order to ensure its advertising approach was in line with its long-term strategy.
At the time it was reported that Just Eat wanted to run the global business from London.
While the Just Eat brand has expanded into overseas markets such as North America and Australia thanks to a series of smart acquisitions, the UK remains its biggest. The company is expected to post revenues of £773m for 2018, £391m of which is anticipated to come from UK sales.
The food delivery platform has gone from startup to FTSE 100 company since its 2001 launch. Its decision to unify its creative account indicates its ambition to scale internationally, and develop a more cohesive proposition in key markets.
As of yet, it's unclear what kind of positioning the brand is looking to adopt with the fresh appointment. Following on from a full-scale rebrand when Karmarama took the reins in 2016, its UK ads have been centered around the 'magical world' of its food delivery service.
The pitch was managed by AAR.