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Ongoing

Agencies are expecting to hear next week who will emerge victorious in the bumper Sainsbury’s Argos BTL pitch. The retailer is looking for a single agency to cover digital creative, content, social and CRM across all of the group’s brands, including Sainsbury’s, Argos, Tu and Habitat.

The review affects current agencies including Table19 (CRM), The & Partnership's AllTogetherNow (Argos social) and Gravity Road (Sainsbury's content). 

MullenLowe is vying against M&C Saatchi this week to reclaim the contract for the government’s Covid ad campaigns, after the work was handed temporarily to Engine earlier this year. Engine, which had taken on the brief as part of its role as a government standby agency, was involved in the pitch at an earlier stage.

Channel 4 held its media pitches this week. The7stars and Publicis Groupe's Zenith are competing against the 39-year incumbent OMD UK for the account.

It is only the second time the broadcaster, which has the UK rights to the Paralympic Games and is the home of Gogglebox and the Great British Bake Off, has reviewed its media account. 

Reviews

Farfetch, the online luxury fashion retailer, is reviewing its global media agency through AAR, with pitches set for the week of 2 August. MediaCom is the incumbent after being appointed last July but it declined to say whether it was repitching.

Wins

Nestlé has retained Zenith on its £63m UK and Ireland media account and awarded the Publicis Groupe-owned agency an expanded remit following a process that began at the start of 2021.

Zenith held on to the business – which previously only covered the UK – in the face of challenges from IPG's UM, Dentsu X and the WPP team Openmind, which included people from Mindshare, Wunderman Thompson and Neo. WPP was the incumbent in Ireland.

Starling Bank, the digital challenger brand, has appointed Electric Glue to its media account following a pitch that kicked off in March. The bank previously worked with the7stars-backed Bountiful Cow, which won the business in November 2019, replacing previous incumbent Squadron Venture Media.

L&C Mortgages has appointed Croud as its full-service digital media agency, following a pitch involving 10 agencies. Croud has started working with L&C – the UK’s largest fee-free mortgage broker and advisor – this month. It will help the brand "navigate unprecedented demand for property advice". Prior to the appointment, the brief was split between in-house and agency.

Pret A Manger has appointed VCCP as its first global integrated creative agency with the goal of “bringing Pret to more people”. The appointment concludes a search – conducted through AAR – that kicked off in March.

The appointment marks a shift in Pret’s brand and communications strategy, with a growing focus on digital communications and omni-channel marketing. The brand previously worked with an array of agencies, including Mission.

Immaculate Vegan, a vegan fashion and lifestyle platform, has appointed Space & Time as its media partner. The appointment was made without a pitch and there was no incumbent.