P&G takes F-H on board for global pet food drive

Procter and Gamble has appointed Fleishman-Hillard to handle PR for

its pounds 90 million global pet food push.

F-H pitched for the account on a competitive basis, although it is not

known which agencies it competed against. It is reported that P&G is

spending pounds 50 million on the brands in Europe and pounds 10 million

in the UK. The PR account is likely to be worth more than pounds

500,000.

F-H will handle PR for two brands of specialist pet food: Iams and

Eukanuba.

These were acquired by Procter and Gamble last year when it bought the

US pet food manufacturer Iams for pounds 1.4 billion.

Both brands are currently available in the UK, but only through

specialist retailers such as pet shops. However Iams has recently been

launched in US supermarkets and there is industry speculation that P&G

will do the same in Europe within the next couple of years.

The account will be lead by F-H director Matt Fearnley. He reports to

Hugo Byrnes, manager of government and trade affairs at P&G.

Total pet food sales in the UK are worth over pounds 1 billion each

year. It is estimated that Iams currently has two per cent of the UK

market. In January Procter and Gamble appointed Saatchi and Saatchi to

handle the Iams advertising account on a global basis.