• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 3, 2022

Dentsu International has been awarded media duties for Heineken USA as part of a consolidation move by the Amsterdam, Netherlands-based brewer.

The incumbent was Canvas Worldwide, which up to now has been a joint venture between Horizon Media and Seoul, South Korea-based ad agency Innocean. In March the partners announced that they were parting ways and that Innocean was acquiring Horizon’s 49% stake in the media shop, giving it full ownership. The split is expected to be finalized by the end of the month.

Canvas WW was awarded the account in November of 2018. The account had previously been with Publicis Groupe’s Starcom. Publicis continues to handle worldwide creative duties for Heineken.

With the award of the brewer’s U.S. account Dentsu will handle media duties globally for the brewer, including its flagship brand as well Dos Equis and Tecate.

Heineken USA spends about $200 million annually on measured media, including an estimated $120 million for traditional and $80 million for online according to agency research firm COMvergence. 

A spokesman for Heineken USA issued this statement:

“As part of a global consolidation, we have made the decision to change media agencies after working with Canvas Worldwide for the past 3 years. We are proud of the work we achieved together and wish them all the best. Our new US media agency will be Dentsu International. They are already an integral part of the global Heineken family and we are very excited to welcome them to Heineken USA.