Ogilvy wins Cadbury SA account

Following the withdrawal of Publicis after the first round of the process, the remaining three agencies fought it out at final pitch presentations in September. Ogilvy's appointment is effective 1 November 2008.

Enthused Julian Ribeiro, MD Ogilvy Johannesburg, “Cadbury is a terrific company with fantastic brands. They also have a very able marketing team and the ambition to do great work. Ogilvy are delighted, excited and keen to take the company's communication to the next level.”

Cadbury group marketing director Geoff Whyte explained, “Euro, Ogilvy and Saatchi all produced impressive work both strategically and creatively making our decision very difficult. Euro RSG are an up and coming agency [which] showed great depth in their ideas - attacking the brief with a fresh perspective and a light touch. Saatchi also impressed with some exciting creative proposals and a great grasp of the strategic challenges.

“In the end, however, Ogilvy edged the decision in their favour by demonstrating consistent clarity of thought from consumer insight to strategic approach to creative big idea and execution.”

Commenting on the account move from Publicis, Whyte added, “I'd like to sincerely thank the whole Publicis team for their passion, energy and hard work on behalf of Cadbury South Africa over the last few years and wish them and the agency every future success.”

Mike Middleton, Cadbury marketing director for chocolate, concluded, “We are really looking forward to producing world class advertising with Ogilvy - they are a strong team with a proven track record so we can't wait to get started.”