Following an “intensive” review lasting approximately six months, P&G Canada has consolidated its estimated $200 million media buying assignment with Carat Canada.
Joyce Law, senior communications manager for the packaged goods giant in Toronto, said the move was undertaken to simplify a complex buying structure that had been in place for about 10 years.
Prior to the review, P&G’s media buying function was spread among three agency networks: GroupM’s MediaCom oversaw English TV, digital, radio and out-of-home, while Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) handled print, and Montreal-based BCP handled French TV and branded entertainment.
“The structure that we had in place was a bit complex, so moving to one agency allows us to better manage the changes in the media landscape and allows us to be more flexible and continue to grow our business,” said Law. “This decision was the best thing for the Canadian business.”
The move does not affect P&G’s planning function, which remains divided between Carat and SMG. While there is some brand overlap, Carat mostly oversees planning for P&G’s household brands, while SMG oversees its beauty brands, said Law.
The transition of the P&G business to Carat will take place over the next three months, with Law telling Marketing that the changeover should be complete by late spring.
“Out of all the agencies that pitched for the business, we felt they best fit our needs to simplify our agency structure and best provide flexibility to manage the changes occurring in media,” said Law of Carat. “They presented the best capabilities to help us continue to grow our business.”
Law wouldn’t disclose specifics, but did say that the consolidation of P&G’s media buying with a single agency would produce significant cost-savings. “You can imagine that we did make this decision so we would be streamlining and simplifying a lot of our internal processes, that will eventually lead to improving the bottom line,” she said.
Law declined to talk specifics about how many agencies participated in the review, which was led by P&G’s North American purchasing department in Cincinnati, in collaboration with local purchasing specialists.
P&G spent $199.8 million on measured media in 2011 according to Nielsen Media Research.
