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- MindShare has succeeded in battening down the Ford European media planning task after several months of confusion over which media agency was handling the business.

MindShare, which is the incumbent on the Ford media buying account around Europe, has been battling to retain the media planning business since a question was raised over whether the planning would move into Ford's lead creative agency, Young & Rubicam.

Y&R had thought it would take on the media planning accounts for the Ford Fiesta, Ka, Focus, Explorer and speciality brands such as the Lincoln to add to its Puma, Cougar, Galaxy planning business when it won the creative tasks in the summer.

However, MindShare was never officially told that it had lost the media planning accounts and both MindShare and Y&R's media planning operation, the Media Edge, have been working on the business since July.

According to one insider, the confusion meant "four or five months of awkwardness" which was resolved this week when Ford confirmed that all of the media planning will now be handled by MindShare. The decision also lays to rest speculation that Y&R could take on the media buying task in a full service centralisation.

MindShare now has all Ford media business in 19 countries around Europe, including all main markets except Germany and Finland.