Distiller Jim Beam Brands is to repitch the consumer PR account for
its Whyte and Mackay whisky brand as it looks to appoint a retained
agency for next year.
Three-year incumbent Hill & Knowlton has indicated it will participate
in the pitch. A brief for the account is to be dispatched to agencies
within the next month.
The repitch follows a communications review that sees Harrison Cowley
taken on to establish a press office for JBB's scotch brands.
HC associate director Andrew Jarvie confirmed his agency would also take
part in the pitch process.
Another spokesperson for HC described the account as aimed at 'raising
brand profile primarily within the 35-plus target market'.
HC's appointment was made without a competitive pitch, and was won on
the back of work the agency had previously undertaken for Maxxium, the
distributor of JBB products.
Jarvie leads the account at HC, having returned for a second spell at
the agency in June following a 12-month stint as communications manager
for Maxxium (PRWeek, 15 June).