Walker Media resigns its Coca-Cola business

Kevin Johns, Media Week, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 12:00am,

Walker Media has resigned its Coca-Cola Enterprises UK media planning and buying business, currently worth around £5m a year, and it is likely to go up for pitch. It had been with the agency for five years.

Industry sources say that CCE has become increasingly demanding of its media as it gears up for new launches. The spend attached to the brief made it difficult for Walker to meet those demands.

Walker held the business for the Capri-Sun and Appletiser brands for which Coca-Cola does the bottling in the UK. Other Coca-Cola-owned business in the UK, held by Vizeum, including the Nestea and Minute Maid brands, is unaffected.

Earlier this month, CCE launched Capri-Sun 100% Juice to build on the growing campaign for healthier-option foods aimed at children. Available in orange and apple flavours, the drink contains no added sugar, sweeteners, additives or preservatives.

Last year, CCE's Appletiser signed a £1m deal with Channel 4 to sponsor re-runs of hit series Friends.

Walker has opted to rescind the account at a time when it is focused on an internal digital repositioning, after capturing the £70m Barclays brief earlier this year. Over the past few months, the agency has shied away from actively chasing new business as it staffs up on the digital side and beds in Barclays. With the finishing touches now being put on digital arm Walker-i, that phase looks to be nearing an end.

Last week, Walker-i, announced the launch of an affiliate programme called WASP, which stands for Walker-i's Affiliate Software Platform. The software will be able to run different campaign metrics including lead generation, cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition.

Coca-Cola Enterprises UK and Walker Media declined to comment.

This article was first published on Media Week