The switch follows the appointment of David Glik as Nestle's marketing director for beverages (Marketing, November 21, 2002). Universal McCann had held the coffee account, which includes Nescafe and Nescafe Gold Blend, for more than 20 years.
MindShare also retains the £30m confectionery business for brands such as Kit Kat, Polo and Rolo, leaving Universal McCann with only the £10m desserts budget for Nestle's Herta and Nesquik chilled dairy businesses.
According to MindShare managing partner Ita Murphy, the agency's recent work on Nestle's confectionery brands, including Yorkie's 'It's not for girls' and Kit Kat's 'Take a 15-minute break', had been critical to the decision.
Last August, Marketing's Biggest Brands survey revealed an 8.2% annual sales decline for Nescafe as the instant coffee market struggled to compete with coffee chains such as Starbucks. However, Glik said the decision to move the media account was unrelated and claimed coffee sales were "up year on year in value terms".
Nescafe has tried to refocus on a younger market, including a £9.5m tie-up with Channel 4's Hollyoaks, negotiated by Universal McCann.
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