FMCG giant Lever Faberge has handed Cairns & Associates
responsibility for promoting its Sure Deodorant line, ending the brand's
four-year association with Freud Communications.
The appointment - made without a competitive pitch - follows Cairns'
work for other Lever Faberge brands over the last three years, having
been appointed initially for the Vaseline brand.
Cairns deputy MD Charlotte Clark said the account budget ran into
six-figures, with Freud fees at the start of their deal worth more than
£300,000 (PRWeek, 7 November 1997).
Clark said she was not aware of any reduction in the fees available for
the brief since Freud's appointment.
She added that the agency had not been briefed to continue Freud's work
on the account, and would unveil plans for a new campaign next year.
The decision to switch the account from Freud's, which attained
high-profile coverage for the brand including its Breast Cancer Care
campaign in 1999, comes just a week after Lever Faberge announced it was
pitching its UK corporate account, currently held by Weber Shandwick
Worldwide (PRWeek, 5 October).
The pitch follows the appointment of Emma Flack as head of corporate
relations, and her subsequent communications review.
Clark leads a five-strong Cairns team, reporting to Sure brand
activation manager Cherry Hirst.
Sure is currently the top-selling UK deodorant product, with a market
share of 19 per cent. Freud continues to handle work for stablemates
Lynx and Impulse.
