Pitch update

The pitch date, 19 October, has not been postponed. However, agencies aren't betting against this happening. Those competing - the incumbent McCann London, BETC London, Dare, Karmarama and WCRS - could also face a sting in the tail should Paterson's eventual replacement decide to shake things up again.

Agencies lining up for Air New Zealand's advertising business are pitching this week. They include the incumbent, Albion, Beattie McGuinness Bungay, Karmarama and Mcgarrybowen.

Nature Valley's long-awaited pan-European ad pitch has apparently been postponed again. It was due to start in October but now agencies are not so sure.

Elsewhere, agencies are regretting sweating blood to hit the 21 September deadline to tender for the Government Procurement Service's creative roster. The due date has been extended by a fortnight because of "an error involving a single supplier".

Incumbents including Dare, LBi and SapientNitro are thought to have failed to reach the next round of Vodafone's digital roster review.

Sources close to the pan-European Kraft media review suggest that Starcom has dropped out. Carat, Mindshare and PHD are still involved.

Unilever is yet to put Mindshare or PHD out of their misery over which has won its European media buying account. Johnson & Johnson and Beiersdorf, both Carat clients, are also close to making decisions on their respective reviews.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk