• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 20, 2015

Chemical and plastics giant BASF has placed its global media agency account in review, the company confirmed Wednesday. 

UM is the incumbent and has been invited to defend, the company said. 

BASF spent about $22 million on ads in the U.S. last year, down from nearly $29 million in 2013. Worldwide ad expenditures weren’t immediately available. 

The company indicated that it was conducting the review as part of a periodic assessment that it undertakes with all suppliers. 

The review will cover paid media across all major international markets and is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. 

“As domestic and international media market continue to develop at rapid pace, we have decided to embark on a global media agency review, with the ambition of finding an agency partner that can support us on this exciting journey,” said Elisabeth Schick, SVP, Communications and Government Relations, BASF Group. 

Competing agencies will be selected on an invitation only basis, said the company, which had about $82 billion in sales last year, $20.6 billion of which were generated in the North America market. 

The review is just the latest in a flurry of media agency assessments by big international firms. This week alone, 21^st Century Fox and BMW also called reviews. Last week P&G put its North America media assignment up for grabs. Coca-Cola, L’Oreal and Unilever are also reviewing media agency assignments.