Bayer Puts U.S. Media Assignment In Review

Bayer has kicked off a review of its U.S. media assignment, just two years after consolidating the account with Interpublic's Initiative, sources confirmed.

Spending on the account is estimated to be $350 million to $400 million, per sources.

In 2009, Bayer placed its U.S. HealthCare media duties with Initiative after a review. At the time the media shop was already handling the client's Consumer Care division.

The HealthCare account had been split between Initiative, which handled national broadcast duties, and WPP's MEC, which handled the remaining portion of the account.

It was not immediately clear why the account went into review again so soon, although Initiative is pitching Novartis, a competing pharmaceutical company that put its media assignment into review this spring.

There are numerous conflicts among agencies handling the larger pharmaceutical companies -- and in many cases those conflicts are accepted by the clients as long as their agency does not handle specific drugs or remedies at another firm that are directly competitive with the products the shop manages for them. Initiative declined to comment, referring questions to the client. A Bayer spokesman did not respond to an email with questions about the review.

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It's been a bumpy ride for Initiative this year. Early in the year Home Depot, with estimated spending of $420 million, defected to Aegis Group's Carat. This summer, S.C. Johnson parted ways with Initiative and sibling agency DraftFCB after a global consolidation review with nearly $1 billion in annual spending. Initiative handled the buying portion of the account.

On the plus side, Initiative won media assignments from toymaker Hasbro and children's TV network The Hub, with estimated combined spending of $175 million. It also won financial services company USAA, an estimated $100 million assignment.

A Novartis win, with estimated global spending of $600 million, would take some of the sting out of the Home Depot and S.C. Johnson losses. It's also a finalist in the $100 million global review for telecommunications firm Siemens Enterprise Communications.

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