Initiative has retained the regional media account for Johnson & Johnson following a global review.
The health and skincare conglomerate has split its EMEA assignment between WPP’s GroupM agencies and IPG’s Mediabrands agencies following a four-month review, with UM and Initiative awarded the MENAP, Balkans and Southern Europe (Spain, Italy and Portugal) clusters.
Initiative will oversee the flagship consumer brands Johnson & Johnson Baby, Neutrogena, Clean & Clear, Carefree and Listerine as well as the Visioncare brand and Acuvue under the renewed agreement.
Ramzy Abouchacra, regional managing director at Initiative GCC, said: “Being the incumbent on the account, going into this kind of pitch can be a challenge. We have worked up close and personal with our partner for over 13 years, and maintaining the ‘sparkle’ is a dedicated effort. Retaining the account for three more years is a powerful validation that we are delivering for clients and that they believe in us as partners who could add value to their business. This win confirms that we continue to be on the right track and fuels our drive to keep moving forward.”
The regional team handling the account will be based in Dubai and will continue to coordinate with markets in Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon.
Initiative has held the account in the MENA region since 1999. In 2007 the account was put out to pitch at an EMEA level, and despite Carat winning the brief in Europe, Initiative retained the business in the MENA region as well as in the Balkans. This year the account was reviewed again across the EMEA region, with OMD, Carat, MEC and UM (Initiative’s sister company) invited to pitch. Because Initiative was the incumbent in the MENA region, Initiative pitched instead of UM.
Initiative is part of media management group Mediabrands and is a partner of Magna, IPG’s centralised media negotiation entity.