Honda has awarded its media planning and buying account in Europe to UM after a six-month competitive pitch process, ending a five-year relationship with Dentsu.
UM will take over the business, worth an estimated 拢50m, across all the Japanese car brand's European markets on 1 April.
The pitch process was run by MediaSense and had a significant focus on integrated data solutions and digital transformation.
Honda is working towards its "Electric Vision", which will involve its European mainstream models all being electrified by 2022.
The appointment comes as the global automotive industry is still being affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with Honda's European sales falling by 35% in the first 11 months of 2020, according to data from Jato Dynamics.
Chris Skinner, EMEA President, UM, said: "Honda鈥檚 Electric Vision is digital transformation at its best. They are using world-leading technology to build a more sustainable future and we couldn鈥檛 be happier to be joining them on such an exciting journey.
"During this pitch process, our aim was to prove that UM鈥檚 offering is truly unique and that our 鈥榥ow and next鈥 approach to marketing, together with first-class data solutions that could be integrated seamlessly with Honda鈥檚 own platforms, would make us the most progressive and future-facing agency they could work with.鈥
Dentsu declined to comment.聽
Dentsu Aegis Network, as it was then, was appointed to Honda's account in December 2015 after defeating the incumbent, Starcom MediaVest Group, in a pitch.
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