• by David Kaplan , May 5, 2005

With the $900 million upfront buying season for the 2005-06 children's television marketplace about to wrap up, one of the biggest kids TV advertisers is changing one of its horses in midstream. Following an agency review that lasted several months, toy giant Mattel Brands Wednesday moved its estimated $180 million media planning account to Publicis Groupe's MediaVest, Los Angeles.

Mattel will continue to use MindShare, New York, for kids' television buying and Mediaedge:cia, New York, for adult television buying. Both shops are part of WPP Group.

Mattel will begin the transition immediately to MediaVest from incumbents MindShare, Los Angeles and Mediaedge:cia's Irvine office.

This assignment for Mattel Brands will not affect Fisher-Price planning or any other Mattel media assignment outside the U.S., a spokeswoman for the company said. The move comes as the "kids upfront" is nearly complete, sources said. "Mattel had settled its buying and planning issues for the next season, so this was the last piece of business to wind up," a source said. The kids market is expected to see moderate growth and relatively flat ad price increases.