Blitz Advertising wins $7.5 million Reckitt Benckiser media review
The Z2C media agency was tipped to have beaten Omnicom in winning over the MNC leader in health, hygiene, home, and nutrition products.
Before Christmas 2020, Blitz Advertising was named the new media agency for Reckitt Benckiser in Pakistan, which the agency has denied in response to a comment request. The appointment came after a media review which began in September 2020, featuring incumbent media agency Omnicom Media Group and contestants including GroupM Pakistan, Adcom ZenithOptimedia, Starcom Pakistan, Synite Digital, Media Axis, and Orient McCann.
Sources told Profit that emails had been received from Reckitt Benckiser pertaining to the winning and the losing media agencies, without specifying who from the British MNC delivered the news. The media review was overseen by the media team of Reckitt Benckiser: Zeeshan Ali, the global integrated media & digital communications lead in the United Kingdom; Urva Muhammad, the head of media and digital for the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates; and Shayan Ahmed, the media manager in Pakistan.
In private WhatsApp, Facebook, and LinkedIn groups populated by members of the marketing community, the sentiment was net positive on the result with some shock in light of the presence of indirectly competing clients - with P&G as a client of Starcom Pakistan which is sister concern of Blitz Advertising, with the two competing often on pitches.
The media review was a detailed pricing grid managed globally where they have a gross rating point and reach requirements for each month on different audiences. The media agencies that participated in the review had to submit a cost per rating point (CPRP) for each brand each month. The brands are Cherry Blossom, Disprin, Gaviscon, Harpic, Mortein, Strepsils, Veet, Dettol Soap, Dettol Surface Cleaner, Durex, Bonjela, and Disprol.
Sources competing for the bid told Profit the media review exercise and approach by Reckitt Benckiser is among the most robust exercises seen in the Pakistan market, second only to the one led by GlaxoSmithKline, which allegedly had KPIs built in the pitch for spot position, gross rating points (GRPs) achieved from spot positions, and benchmarking of planned versus actual GRPs against each media plan executed.
The story will be updated when new information comes to light.