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Three agencies have been lined up to contest the creative

assignment on the Heinz baby food range, currently handled by Leo

Burnett.

The trio is understood to have been selected after an agency search

carried out for Heinz by ISBA.

Industry sources believe the pitch reflects the company's desire to

switch its baby food portfolio into a smaller shop and away from

Burnett, which already handles a number of Heinz food brands. However,

media buying will remain with Starcom Motive.

The pitch is being conducted by Victoria Maxwell, the Heinz development

manager, and Clodagh Ward, winner of last year's Marketing Society prize

for best new marketer. Ward has been closely associated with Burnett's

highly acclaimed work for Heinz Salad Cream, which repositioned the

brand for a younger and more upmarket audience.

The pitch comes less than two months after Heinz relaunched its baby

food range with new recipes, modern packaging and an organic,

"home-cooked" brand called Simply.

Heinz is investing £3 million in the revamp and introducing 15 new

varieties to its existing organic range in an attempt to dominate the

organic baby food market. The company currently sells about $1

billion worth of baby food globally each year. Earlier this year, it

abandoned its $185 million proposed takeover of the US baby food

brand Beech Nut after an appeals court ruled that it would reduce

competition in a highly concentrated market.

Heinz recently launched Tinytums.co.uk, a website for parents, childcare

professionals and mothers-to-be.

No-one at Heinz was available for comment as ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 went to press.