Pitch update

Those monitoring the Diet Coke advertising pitch will be intrigued to find out that, despite getting to the apparent end of the process, the powers that be at Coca-Cola haven't appointed an agency yet. The brand called a pitch after splitting with Mother at the end of last year. One of the competing agencies, Fallon, was knocked out at an early stage in the process and another, Anomaly, was knocked out more than a week ago, which left only the start-up The Corner in the running. However, no appointment has yet been made. Perhaps the client is just taking a Diet Coke break before making a decision.

The conservation charity The National Trust is holding chemistry meetings this week, with agencies hoping to compete to handle its advertising business. Agency Insight is handling the process and organising meetings with up to seven shops, which will be then whittled down to three contenders. These will be invited to present initial strategic thoughts and later to turn those ideas into an overarching brand strategy.

Agencies lining up for the travel group Go Ahead's £4 million advertising review for its Southern Railway and Gatwick Express services have finally been given the submission deadline of 30 January 2012. They'll be hoping for a smooth journey after that point.

Shops are talking about some potential new business from Creativebrief. Word on the street is that the intermediary could soon be touting a £6 million telecoms account around town.

Burger King's direct marketing review, which is being handled by Agency Assessments, is progressing quickly with a shortlist of four agencies being drawn up ahead of pitches in March.

Agencies that pitched on the Nespresso social media account before Christmas won't have to wait much longer, with an appointment expected in the next week.

OMD, Mindshare, UM London and MediaCom Edinburgh are all prepping their touch-typing skills for the Royal Mail and Post Office e-auction on Friday. It's the final hoop the agencies have to go through before the client appoints the agency with the top overall score, taking into account not only price but how they performed on the written submission and presentations.

Agency sources suggest that the global Heineken media review could soon be swinging into action. The incumbents, Starcom MediaVest Group, which handles the UK business, and Mindshare are standing by for more information after the process was unveiled last November.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk