Pitch Update: Sky, Trustpilot, Heathrow, Krispy Kreme and more

Reviews

Heathrow Airport is hoping to land a new strategic creative agency as it's in the early stages of a review. The process is being supported by The Observatory and is expected to reach its destination by early summer. 

Its last big spot was distributed on social media and created by Heathrow Airport’s in-house team. It was a nod to the opening monologue in Richard Curtis’ film Love Actually with a voiceover by Martine McCutcheon.

Wins

MediaCom has won an expanded remit from Sky across Europe, extending its media planning and buying relationship with the Comcast-owned TV and broadband giant for another three years and winning digital media duties in the UK.

Sky, one of the biggest advertisers in the UK and western Europe, carried out a six-month review in what is thought to have been a closed process. MediaCom will handle pay-per-click, programmatic and search engine optimisation as part of its expanded digital media remit in the UK. Dentsu’s Merkle previously had some of those responsibilities.

Wieden & Kennedy London’s pitching skills have received what we can only assume to be a glowing review from Trustpilot. The agency has been chosen to work with the consumer review platform on an integrated brand campaign set to run across TV, online, social and digital. Wieden & Kennedy won the business without a pitch and there was no incumbent on the account.

WPP’s Wavemaker has retained the media planning account for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), following a competitive pitch process. The agency was first hired by the DWP seven years ago, and the new contract, worth £2m, will run for four more years.  

Wavemaker is one of four agencies that was selected last year on the government’s Campaign Solutions 2 framework to handle media planning and strategy. The tender was open to all of the rostered agencies, including Havas UK, MG OMD and MediaCom UK.

Manifest has secured a sweet deal after it was selected as the new digital partner for 2022 for donut chain Krispy Kreme in the UK and Ireland. The appointment follows a competitive pitch process and Manifest will be tasked with helping Krispy Kreme on its journey to become a digital first brand. 

Pet foods business Edgard & Cooper has signed pup Yonder Media to work on a campaign targeted at younger pet pawrents, who see their pet as part of their family and are fuelling a boom in pet ownership since the pandemic. Yonder Media’s brief is to bring in new audiences for the Belgium-based brand across the UK, Spain and Germany. 

The Kite Factory has not been wasting any time lately. The agency has been appointed as media planning and buying agency for Time Products, parent brand to Sekonda and Accurist watches. 

The Corner has signed a corporate partnership with The House of St Barnabas, a private members club in the heart of Soho, set up to help break the cycle of homelessness. The Corner will work with the social enterprise to develop a new brand positioning, visual identity and comms campaign.