MediaCom holds on to lucrative Mars Inc. account

Mars Inc. in Australia will continue its account with MediaCom, more than three years after the GroupM agency was appointed to buy and plan for its brands.

The deal will continue until 2025 and will encompass Mars Wrigley, Mars Petcare and Mars Food.

Mars Australia spent around $20 million in advertising in 2021, according to Nielsen Ad Intel.

Yaron Farizon, MediaCom Australia CEO, told Mumbrella: "Mars has been a long-term client for us here in Australia and we are super excited and proud to continue our partnership with Mars locally, doing work that pushes boundaries."

Meanwhile, GroupM agency Essence was also appointed to manage biddable media.

MediaCom global said: "Essence will enable Mars to reach and engage consumers, and will be responsible for Mars’ fast-growing programmatic video, social and search investment, establishing specialist hub capabilities regionally in Europe, Asia and Latin America."

Rankin Carroll, chief brand and content officer at Mars Wrigley and executive sponsor for media, Mars Inc. added: "We set out a detailed vision and operating plan for our next wave of media transformation at Mars.

"We were impressed by WPP’s commitment to evolving their own integrated team to deliver that vision, building on our trusted partnership with MediaCom but adding in fresh, digital-first thinking from other GroupM partners, including Essence," he added.

The reappointments come after the 2021 Building Brands for Mutual Value media review, in which Mars shared its new vision for marketing including transforming consumer engagement, data insight, digital marketing, and brand purpose.

Mars Inc. brands such as Wrigley, Snickers, Extra, Maltesers, M&Ms, Dolmio, Masterfoods, Kan Tong, Whiskas, Smackos, Royal Canin and Sheba.