Novartis opens pitch for global brand launch

By Sara Kimberley, campaignlive.co.uk, Thursday, 22 November 2012 08:00AM

Novartis, the pharmaceutical giant, is searching for a global advertising agency to handle the international roll-out of an over-the-counter product.

Excedrin: sources say the advertising brief could relate to the US pain-relief brand

An RFI has been issued to a number of agencies, including UK-based shops, from the Denmark-based intermediary Hestbaek Consult. The brief, dubbed "Project Cool", covers the provision of advertising to support the launch of a product, which is not named in the RFI, across markets in regions including Europe, the US and Asia.

Novartis, which has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland and has a presence in more than 140 countries, will require the appointed agency to target consumers as well as healthcare professionals.

Agency sources have speculated that the brief relates to a wider roll-out of the Novartis US pain-relief brand Excedrin. They said Excedrin, which spends around $45 million on US advertising, could be set for a global launch that will require a positive brand awareness campaign following a product recall in the US this year.

Novartis works with a number of agencies including DraftFCB London, Wunderman Switzerland and Grey Group.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk