Business on the move including S4 Capital, ITV, McVitie's, The Met and Manchester City

By Imogen Watson, Senior reporter

October 31, 2019 | 6 min read

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 is a weekly column. Email imogen.watson@thedrum.com if you want to be included

This week includes moves from McVitie's, ITV, Just Eat, Bathstore, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, S4 Capital and Manchester City.

This week's acquisitions

TV production company Endemol Shine Group has been acquired wholly by Banijay Group.
Accenture Interactive has acquired digital consultancy Bow & Arrow for an undisclosed sum. The move marks the management consultancy's 10th buy-out of an agency in the past 12 months.
S3 Advertising has been acquired by its senior management team for an undisclosed fee, a move which has seen the departure of founder and chief executive Matt Jones.
The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph have been put up for sale as part of a review of Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay's assets in Britain.
Magazine powerhouse Future has bid £140m to acquire rival Ti Media as it has the tech and expertise to scale and digitally monetise its brands.

EMEA wins

McVitie's owner Pladis has consolidated its creative and media into Omnicom Group. The snacking brand has appointed TBWA\London to handle strategic and creative duties while Manning Gottlieb OMD will take control of media planning and buying.

Just Eat and Travel Republic have signed up as sponsors for ITV’s flagship shows Love Island and Take Me Out.

First Direct has concluded its recent agency search for a new creative partner with the appointment of The Brooklyn Brothers.

McCann Worldgroup’s social media business Live UK has been appointed by Aldi to handle all UK social media activity.

Bathstore has appointed Atomic London as its creative agency. Acquired by Homebase in July this year, the home improvement retailer plans to open Bathstore concessions within its own stores over the next 18 months.

Spider has been appointed to handle consumer PR for STRYYK, the distilled non-alcoholic spirits brand.

Adeo Group has won the contract to develop Scottish Golf’s junior framework website.

Wavemaker Select has been appointed by healthy and sustainable food company Wessanen UK as its media planning and buying agency.

APAC wins

Leo Burnett Australia has been awarded the creative account for Sweat.

Americas wins

AKA has been appointed as the agency of record for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, adding it to its global roster of famous museums and galleries that include The British Museum, Tate Modern, The National Gallery and The Natural History Museum of London.

Interpublic Group’s Avrett Free Ginsberg has been named creative agency of record for over-the-counter heartburn remedy Prevacid 24HR, owned by Perrigo.

Reviews

Manchester City has reportedly terminated its partnership with PHD Media Manchester, after being hit by a backlash over an apparent appeal for social influencers to promote Champions League matches at the Etihad Stadium.

Mergers

S4 Capital is to augment its analytics offer with a merger of its programmatic media practice MightyHive with UK based digital analytics specialists ConversionWorks and a South Korea based data and analytics provider called Datalicious Korea.

Launches

Food delivery platform Foodpanda has diversified into delivering on-demand groceries, flowers and household essentials in Singapore.

Australian agency WE Buchan will take on the brand of its global parent, WE Communications, as the agency looks to broaden its capabilities in its homeland and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

WarnerMedia has unveiled its HBO Max streaming service during an investor presentation at the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, California.

Creative agency JohnxHannes is closing its doors with partners John McKelvey and Hannes Ciatti are splitting up and forming two new agencies: Mirimar, led by McKelvey, and Alto, led by Ciatti.

Endeavor Global Marketing has rebranded itself as 160over90 as its parent company, Endeavor Group Holdings, has put its plans for an IPO on hold.

Got a story or tip for Business on the Move? Send your acquisitions, reviews, account wins and launch news to imogen.watson@thedrum.com.

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