Coca-Cola Middle East and Rani Refreshments, which is part of Saudi-based soft drinks company Aujan Industries, have called a review of their respective media planning and buying accounts.
Incumbents Mindshare and UM are the only two agencies participating in the review, which is understood to be a routine examination of Coca-Cola and Rani Refreshments’ media partners.
It is not known whether the companies are seeking to consolidate media into one agency following The Coca-Cola Company’s acquisition of half of Aujan’s business in a $980 million deal last year. The Coca-Cola Company holds the rights to Aujan-owned brands and 49 per cent of Aujan’s bottling and distribution operations.
Under the joint venture, Aujan launched two new beverage companies, the Aujan Coca-Cola Beverages Company (ACCB), which handles the manufacturing and distribution of products, and Rani Refreshments, which markets and develops the products of three brands.
The review includes Rani Refreshment’s brands Rani and Barbican, with the account covering the Levant (Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and the Palestinan Territories) and the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman).
Dimitrij Dugandzija, head of marketing and business development at Rani Refreshments, said: “We are conducting a review of our existing partners, and thus only our existing partners will take part in this internal review.”
Antoine Tayyar, director of public affairs and communications at Coca-Cola Middle East, added only that “it is a routine internal review with our existing media agencies.”
The Coca-Cola Company, which currently employs more than 40,000 people in the Arab world, announced in 2011 that it will invest $5 billion in the Middle East and North Africa region over the next 10 years.
Its products include Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Burn and water brand Arwa.
