Publicis Dublin has won the creative account for the C&C-owned brand Bulmer’s following a five way pitch that also included McCannBlue, Ogilvy, Boys and Girls and ICAN, which retained the digital account.
The account win for Publicis follows on from its success in retaining TG4 account and winning the Bord Gais account towards the end of 2014. It also means that the Bulmers account returns to Ireland, having been handled in the UK for the past two years by the London agency Red Brick Road which picked it up from Havas Dublin. Red Brick Road also managed the C&C-owned Magners account in the UK. The decision to move the Bulmers account to the UK in the first place was met with derision in adland at the time and industry sources say it backfired spectacularly for the company.
It also comes at an important time for C&C which recently issued a profit-warning for its full financial year, which ends in February. According to its interim management statement, operating profits will be down at €115m for the full financial year. This compares with €127m the previous year.