Mondelez-owned Philadelphia is going on another of its periodic holidays from J. Walter Thompson, choosing Karmarama as its new European agency in a pitch also involving Anomaly and Havas.
Philadelphia moved to BBH in 2013 for just a year and then took the business in-house before re-appointing JWT in 2015.
Philadelphia marketing manager Zoe Cashin-Howe says: “Karmarama gave us confidence through their fresh-thinking approach to a compelling communications platform which could explode into powerful creative working across multiple countries and cultures.” So no pressure there then.
Karmarama executive chairman Jon Wilkins says: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with one of the world’s leading global brands across multiple markets to offer the best modern creative work throughout the customer experience.”
Which presumably means there’ll be fair amount of digital involved. Karmarama was bought by Accenture Digital last November thereby adding to its digital resources and providing a ready-made network if needed.
Mondelez (formerly part of Kraft) has struggled recently and there are rumours that it plans to sell Philadelphia if a buyer can be found. Ir recently sold iconic Australian brand Vegemite to Bega Cheese for nearly £300m. Philadelphia has sales of around £90m in the UK.
Update
Our earlier story said that JWT had reptiched and they tell us they didn’t. Can’t say we blame them .
