Last month, Boots said it planned to review its £44m creative advertising account but did not indicate if media would be included in the review.
Boots' advertising account is currently held by J Walter Thompson, which has worked for the company for nine years. The media account is with sister WPP agency MindShare. According to Boots, both agencies will be invited to defend the accounts, though a shortlist has not yet been drawn up for the review, which will commence at the end of August.
Agencies tipped to be on the shortlist include Mother, Clemmow Hornby Inge and Bartle Bogle Hegarty.
In a statement, a spokesman for Boots said: "As part of our ongoing brand-making development activity, we are reviewing our UK retail and media planning and buying relationships. We anticipate that current agencies will repitch and we aim to start the process at the end of August. We have not yet agreed a pitch list."
JWT's most recent work for Boots was a stylish TV ad for No 7 mascara, which showed how the cosmetic product could be the crucial element in a bank robbery, part of the Boots "7 ways to..." series.
Boots has been struggling of late. In June it reported profit before tax and exceptionals down 13% to £555.4m. Profit before tax was down 16.9% to £494.9m.
Despite the sales fall, Boots said second-half sales were up 6.1% and that the 'Lower Prices You'll Love' campaign performed in line with expectations.
The company recently appointed former Asda marketing director Richard Baker as the group's chief executive and is planning to introduce a whole raft of new, mainly own-label products.
His appointment followed that of former Masterfoods marketer, Anne Francke, who was appointed as director of strategic marketing and development. Francke replaced Barry Clare who left after less than a year in the job.
One of Francke's first moves was to introduce the 'New at Boots' strapline for its marketing and ditch 'Claire', the fictional customer who has fronted the retailer's advertising for two years.
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