MINI is looking for an ad agency ahead of the launch of its first ever car to be fully electric powered. "Campaign" reveals that the UK agencies in the running are Droga5 London, We Are Pi and Anomaly.

Lots of graphs and statistics to choose from as "Campaign" gives readers a rundown on M&A activity in 2017 showing that as the holding companies' activity decreased, consultancies started to pick up the slack, as did private equity deals.

"Campaign" is reporting that after only recently appointing VCCP before consolidating its account in to 72andSunny. Now the auction site is looking for an additional agency to provide support work on projects with 72andSunny retaining its lead strategic brief for EMEA. VCCP has confirmed it will not be taking part in the process.

YouTube is toughening the rules on who can earn money through their videos, the BBC reports. The new rules mean publishers can only earn money through advertising if they have more than 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of their videos have been viewed by other people in the past year.

Strong words, as ever, this morning from "Marketing Week" columnist Mark Ritson, who tears apart the Diet Coke relaunch. Launching with millennials in mind means it's ill-focussed because that's not really a homogenous demographic, he says. He also adds that nothing can reverse the fact that people are turning away from sugary drinks.

Cancer Research UK is calling for junk food ads to be banned during talent shows and live sports games because of research showing a link between consumption and exposure to such advertising, Campaign reports.

The latest IPA Bellwether figures, for Q4 last year, show that just 8% more marketers raised budget than cut them. According to "Campaign," this is the smallest positive increase in marketing budgets since the start of 2016.

"Campaign" reveals that Starbucks is on the hunt for a European customer engagement agency in a process being run by Creativebrief. There is no incumbent agency.

Expedia has consolidated its global advertising requirements into Saatchi & Saatchi. "Campaign" reports that the UK ad account was previously handled by Publicis sister brand Fallon.

Nielsen has announced it is using its Digital Ad Ratings service to measure the effectiveness of YouTube advertising in the UK, France and Germany, Netimperative reports.