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FMCG was once again responsible for the most agency new business globally in July, according to data from ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s tool in partnership with R3.

It was also the most active sector in June, when billings topped $766.6m.

The dominance of FMCG is likely to continue since Unilever recently concluded its $3.3bn media review, the biggest of the year. Unilever brands include Ben & Jerry's, Dove, Lifebuoy, Lynx, Marmite and Persil.

The next busiest categories in July was retail, followed by finance & insurance.

Most of the activity in FMCG in July was led by media reviews. Looking at creative account moves only, the top category was actually pharmaceuticals & healthcare, followed by FMCG and media & entertainment.

L’Oréal and Beiersdorf media lead billings

FMCG billings in July reached $1.2bn. While this was lower than in the same period in 2020, when they were valued at $1.5bn, it was significantly higher than in July 2019, when billings were $366m. It also compares favourably with June, when billings totalled $766.6m.

In volume terms, the trend is much the same: there were 94 account moves in July, down from 128 in July 2020 but up from 80 two years earlier.

Split into regions, Asia-Pacific had most FMCG new business on the creative side, accounting for $115m of billings. For media, though, the most active region was Europe, responsible for $491.4m worth of billings, with mainland Europe accounting for the lion’s share as opposed to the UK.

In creative, the top accounts that moved were dairy company Land O’Lakes, hard seltzer White Claw and The Coca-Cola Company – worth $20m apiece.

Havas’ Battery picked up Land O’Lakes for the US, while sibling Havas Worldwide netted Coca-Cola, also for the US. VCCP was the winner of the global White Claw business.

Dentsu landed two Chinese briefs: instant noodle maker Master Kong ($18m) and cosmetics giant Shiseido ($14m).

In media, it was a clean sweep for Wavemaker for the three biggest account moves in July. The WPP shop landed L’Oréal briefs covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as for Australia (valued at $441.6m and $51.1m respectively), and it also won the $300m global Beiserdorf planning task.

Omnicom’s PHD picked up the $31.2m PepsiCo business covering Australia, while Havas Media was awarded the media portion of the Land O’Lakes US account worth $30m.