±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The incumbent, St Luke's, was unaware of pitch plans. Tilda is understood to be in the process of drawing up an agency shortlist.

St Luke's won the account in 2001 following a pitch against the Leicester-based agency JFW Advertising.

Later that year, it launched an ad campaign for Tilda's pre-cooked, gourmet rice range, Tilda Rizazz. The £3 million TV and cinema campaign poked fun at people who pretended to be busy.

JFW is also on Tilda's roster and handles marketing to ethnic consumers.

Its most recent campaign targeted Asian families and ran in 2002 across Asian TV channels such as Prime and Zee.

Tilda's main rival is the Masterfood brand Uncle Ben's, which backs its product range with a £5 million spend through BBDO's second-string network, Minerva.

Tilda's main marketing strategy is to educate consumers about the benefits of cooking with pure basmati rice and, as part of this, its main basmati rice brand was renamed Tilda Pure Basmati in 2002. Tilda, which also makes sauces and chutneys, redesigned its packaging to highlight the idea of purity.

The review is not thought to affect Tilda's media planning and buying account, which is held by Media Planning Group.

No-one at Tilda was available for comment as ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 went to press.