Bulmers has shortlisted an eclectic four to pitch for its £3 million account. Adam & Eve, JWT London, WCRS and Wieden & Kennedy have all made the cut in a pitch process handled by AAR.
Elsewhere, pitches for the British Beer & Pub Association, which had suffered some organisational glitches, are back on and scheduled for the week after Easter, rendering our jokes about organising piss-ups in breweries now obsolete. 101, DLKW Lowe, Now and Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R are on stand-by.
Mini has held chemistry meetings with UK agencies vying for a global project for the brand. The project is expected to run in addition to the work that BSUR Amsterdam handles for the car brand.
The incumbent, My Agency, WCRS, DLKW Lowe and one other have made it through to the shortlist to pitch for the Russian Standard Vodka global advertising account. The review process is being handled by The Observatory.
Pitches for Macmillan Cancer Support took place last week, with VCCP, M&C Saatchi and Creature London all waiting to hear the final decision - hopefully over the next few days.
Meanwhile, VCCP, Leagas Delaney and The Brooklyn Brothers are preparing their pitches for McLaren that are due to take place in the first week of March.
Four Seasons, the hotel group that is reviewing its global advertising, CRM and media arrangements through AAR, is holding chemistry meetings in the UK next week and in the US after that. Then there will be a pitch process.
The National Trust has whittled down the agencies competing for its advertising business to a shortlist of three. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and 18 Feet & Rising will now compete in the upcoming pitch for the business, which is being handled by Agency Insight.
There is still no formal news on the Post Office and Royal Mail media agency appointments. Mindshare and UM London have been told they are the lucky winners after enduring the new-business equivalent of a vicar asking if anyone has anything to declare, but apparently the top bods who need to sign off the official statements are on holiday. Half-term holidays are throwing a spanner into the works, it seems.
MediaVest and Mindshare had preliminary meetings this week with their joint client Heineken, ahead of pitch presentations in two weeks' time. The incumbents are unsure whether the media review is necessarily geared at a consolidation.