Campbell Soup on the hunt for global media agency

The Campbell Soup Company is on the hunt for a media agency to handle its global media buying and planning business. In a statement to Marketing, a Campbell spokesperson confirmed the announcement and stated that MEC is the incumbent for Campbell in Singapore and Malaysia.The company has worked with MEC since it brought together its global media buying and planning duties in 2006, according to Adweek.This review comes after WPP's GroupM unveiled the new branding for the merged MEC and Maxus entity called "Wavemaker". Along with a new visual identity, Wavemaker will go live locally as the merger completes in each country. This will be finalised by January 2018. The new brand mark reflects the agency’s heritage, born from WPP and GroupM, according to the press statement. Wavemaker will have offices in 90 countries and over 8,500 employees.Campbell reported a net sales of US$1,664 million for its fourth quarter ended 30 July 2017, as compared to the US$1,687 million it garnered during the same period last year. This was driven by a 1% decrease in organic sales. Meanwhile, marketing and selling expenses dropped 34% to US$143 million.The operating environment for the packaged foods industry remains challenging due to shifting demographics, changing consumer preferences for food, the adoption of new shopping behaviors and the dynamic retailer landscape."In these times, sales growth remains a challenge," Denise Morrison, Campbell's president and CEO, said during the reveal of financials. Morrison added that the company expects the operating environment for fiscal 2018 to remain difficult."We will continue to position Campbell for long-term growth by managing costs aggressively and re-investing a portion of those savings back in the business with a focus on our strategic imperatives of real food, digital and e-commerce, health and well-being, and snacking," she said.