The move spells further bad news for incumbent Lowe, which is in the middle of a consultation process that could see up to 50 staff lose their jobs following the loss of its global HSBC account. Lowe's assignments outside Europe are not affected by the appointment.
The brand is known as Becel in most European markets and Flora in the UK, Spain and Central and Eastern Europe. BBH will also develop advertising for the Flora Pro Activ range of products.
Originally, the reported spend for the Flora account was only £25m, with Unilever not having advertised the main Flora brand for some time. Its most recent high-profile advertising was for Pro Activ, launched with a campaign starring the Olympic gold-medal winner Sir Steve Redgrave in 2001.
Ogilvy & Mather had also been in the running for the work, but was dropped from the review at the end of June. Unilever saw final presentations this week, before handing the work to BBH.
The agency has been steadily increasing its hold on the Unilever business by picking up accounts such as laundry detergent Surf and toothpaste brands Signal and Mentadent, all previously handled by Lowe.
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