Business on the move including Marks and Spencer, Starbucks, BBC Studios, Duracell, and more
Welcome to The Drum's Business on the Move column, where we collate agency account news, reviews, agency launches, rebrands and acquisitions.
Business on the move
Global wins
Ralph Lauren has consolidated its global media buying and planning from 12 agencies down to four. Zenith has been named agency of record for global strategy and buying. It will work alongside three local agency partners: Dentsu in Japan and South Korea, Forward3D in EMEA and PMG in North America.
EMEA wins
Marks & Spencer has appointed indie shop ODD as the lead creative agency for its clothing and home division, just under two months after it revealed plans to splinter its advertising between food and non-food accounts.
Boots has signed a three-year deal to sponsor the women’s national football teams of every country in the UK and Ireland, having spotted an opportunity to align itself with the game.
BBC Studios has won control of UKTV, taking ownership of seven of its ten free-to-air and pay-TV channels. These channels will serve as platforms for BBC shows to live on after they debut on the BBC.
Unicef UK has appointed The Community London as its strategic and creative shop.
Iceland has appointed Leo Burnett to its advertising account, as the brand aims to take a strategic and creative direction.
VCCP has won the creative account of Mondelez International confectionary brand, Maynards Bassetts.
Pearl & Dean has struck a new partnership between allergy-relief brand Benadryl Allergy, and suburban pop up cinema company Pop Up Screens.
Volvo Car UK is the new official vehicle partner of British Triathlon.
Feather and Black has engaged Alchemy Media to deliver its consumer media strategy and plans for 2019.
TBWA\Manchester, who already works with Merlin Entertainments on its Resort Theme Parks, has picked up the brief to launch its new partnership; Bear Grylls Adventure.
AKA Scotland has been appointed by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland to oversee the media planning and media buying activities for its Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park sites.
Americas wins
Duracell has appointed the recently-merged Wunderman Thompson as its global creative partner for international markets.
Brooks Running has selected Huge as its integrated agency of record.
Chemistry has been named agency of record for Lifestyles Healthcare in North America.
NBCUniversal Entertainment has appointed media planning and buying duties to Spark Foundry after an official review.
APAC wins
The DDB Mudra Group has won the digital marketing mandate of Spotify India.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has appointed antics@play and The Media Shop to support its new campaign called #UnboxThailand.
Audi India has appointed BBH as its lead agency in India to handle its mainline and digital work.
The global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group of India, Times Bridge, has started a strategic partnership with Malaria No More.
Reviews
Homebase is looking for a new agency to hold its creative account.
Subway UK and Ireland is seeking an advertising agency after it ended its 10-year partnership with McCann London.
Starbucks has put its media account up for review after 19 years with Manning Gottlieb OMD.
Purdue Pharma is on the search for a new ad agency.
Launches
Luxury London retailer Fortnum & Mason is opening its first store outside the UK, taking a spot in a new development in Hong Kong.
WPP is opening a large campus in Amsterdam that will bring together various properties in one location. The move is to give clients easier access to its talent and capabilities.
DDB and Joan Creative has unveiled new visual identities for their 70th and third anniversaries, respectively.
Studio.co.uk has completed a rebrand which sees a refreshed visual identity for the Studio brand.
Artificial Artists has created a platform that enables brands and ad agencies to create and manage their own CGI assets and campaigns.
IDHL Group has launched its sixth agency, equation.
Bank of Melbourne has launched a brand positioning and campaign in collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne.
SilverPush has opened its first office in Hong Kong.
Independent Japanese creative agency monopo has launched its first location outside of Japan, in London’s Spitalfields.
Mergers
Blue Acorn has merged with iCiDIGITAL. The new firm is called Blue Acorn iCi.
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