Food brands without an advertising agency in the UK are Maltesers, Revels, Skittles, Dolmio and the Seeds of Change Organic range, while on the petcare side Bounce, Cesar, Chappie, Pal, Frolic and Catsan cat litter are up for review.
The decision to split from D'Arcy was made at a global level from Mars' headquarters in McLean, Virginia this week, by vice-president of marketing Ken Rogers. Both organisations cited "philosophical differences and changing priorities
as reasons for the split.
Masterfoods refused to say whether it would hand the business to its existing global networks Grey Worldwide or BBDO, or whether it would consider agencies outside its roster. Sources close to Mars in the US suggested TBWA/ Chiat/Day was being lined up for some of the brands.
The loss of the global Mars business comes as a blow to D'Arcy, but agency insiders say it is not a surprise following the loss last year of Twix and Mars Bar to Grey.
According to a spokeswoman for D'Arcy, Mars is one of the agency's top ten global clients after clients such as Procter & Gamble and General Motors.
She said it was too early to comment on redundancies as a result of the loss.
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