Mars & Wrigley select MediaVest as Media Agency of Record.

The U.S. Petcare, Snackfood and Wrigley business segments of Mars, Incorporated announced the selection of New York based MediaVest, a division of Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) owned by Publicis Groupe, as its media planning and buying agency of record. The decision follows a comprehensive agency assessment conducted jointly by Mars and subsidiary the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company to consolidate planning and buying responsibilities for the general and Hispanic market television, cinema and radio within these business segments.

The formal review which included MediaVest and Mindshare follows the merger of Mars and Wrigley, which took effect on October 6, 2008. Mindshare, a Group M partner within the WPP family, has handled Wrigley’s U.S. media buying and planning since 2006 while MediaVest was the Mars’ incumbent (2004).

“The combination of Mars and Wrigley provides a strategic opportunity that requires the optimum agency structure to ultimately drive growth and cost savings that address our collective media needs,” said Carole Walker, Vice President of Integrated Marketing Communications for Mars Snackfood U.S. “We have selected MediaVest as the best partner due to their demonstrated thought leadership and best in class go-to-market approach.”

As part of the consolidation, MediaVest will assume out-of-home (OOH) and digital buying and planning for Wrigley, while Mars will keep their OOH media with Kinetic NY, a Group M/WPP partner. Digital buying and planning for Mars will remain with Digitas.

“The selection of MediaVest was driven by the clear and joint business needs that ensure Mars and Wrigley have the long-term structure in place to deliver strong performance while strengthening our competitive advantage and bringing additional value to our consumers,” said Paul Chibe, Vice President of North American Marketing for Wrigley. “Mindshare is a world-class agency with talented, dedicated people and we wish them the best in the future and appreciate the many contributions, hard work and professionalism they have demonstrated throughout our relationship.”