BBH scooped the Baileys account after a shootout with fellow roster agency J Walter Thompson, the incumbent on the business, which has a spend of 拢5m a year in the UK.
JWT will continue to work on other Diageo business including the global Smirnoff account, Tanqueray gin, ready-mixed gin Gordon's Edge and the global account for J&B whisky.
JWT won the global account for Baileys in 1997 after Diageo dumped the Lowe Group and shifted its Malibu, Smirnoff and Baileys brands to JWT on a global basis.
The agency has since lost Malibu, following the sale of the rum brand to Allied Domecq. The brand moved to Bates and then, after the collapse of Cordiant earlier this year, went to Publicis Groupe.
BBH will work on developing a new campaign for Baileys, which currently sponsors 'Sex and the City' on Channel 4, to fend off growing competition from Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry among others.
The appointment comes as Diageo looks for a below-the-line agency to handle the marketing for its premium range of alcohol brands. EHS Brann, Tullo Marshall Warren and KLP Euro RSCG are currently battling it out for the opportunity to market Diageo's top-of-the-range lines, such as Talisker Whisky and Johnnie Walker Blue Label.
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