US firm wins Dairy Board global contract

By DITA DE BONI marketing writer

The $200 million international advertising account for the New Zealand Dairy Board's consumer business has been awarded to US-based Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB).

New Zealand Milk, the board's "strategic business unit" for its various overseas markets, is giving FCB responsibility for all foreign advertising. At present the work is spread among agencies in several foreign regions.

The board does not advertise here, so the NZ office of FCB will not work directly on the account.

New Zealand Milk sells $3.7 billion worth of dairy products overseas, mainly in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, under brand names including Anchor, Fernleaf, Anlene (milk powder) and Chesdale.

Its advertising account - one of the biggest from a New Zealand-based company - was awarded to FCB in a four-way contest involving other large global agency networks.

Board spokesman Neville Martin refused to say which agencies bid against FCB, although another source told the the Business Herald that Grey, Saatchi & Saatchi and BBDO were contenders.

Mr Martin said the Dairy Board had restructured its business in the past few years along the lines of global, fast-moving consumer goods companies such as Unilever which use a "product category" approach to marketing, "for example, [focusing on] the world processed cheese market."

"Thus, the appointment of a global agency kind of makes sense in the context," he said.

It would also help to strengthen the brands in the retail arena.

"It is absolutely essential ... As retailers get bigger and stronger, they are demanding that suppliers hold their place on shelves.

"You have to be number one or two - they don't like also-rans - and it is crucial our brands should retain their place in the markets."

The Dairy Board brand maxim was "quality at an affordable price."

While FCB New Zealand will not be directly involved, Greg Eichmann at FCB's local headquarters in Parnell says the agency has had a huge morale boost from the new business.

"We're absolutely delighted, over the moon, with the news," he said.

FCB Worldwide is the largest agency in the United States and the fifth largest internationally.

It has billings of more than $20 billion, although it lost the DaimlerChrysler account last year.