General Mills plots Haagen-Dazs rejig.(General Mills buying Pillsbury, ice cream subsidiary could change agencies)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Haagen-Dazs, the luxury ice-cream brand owned by Pillsbury, is preparing to review its 20 million [pounds sterling] pan-European advertising account.

The review comes as General Mills is poised to buy Pillsbury and its assets from Diageo. The manufacturer is said to be considering the incumbent, Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper, Saatchi & Saatchi, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and another agency, as yet undisclosed, for the account, which is worth 6 million [pounds sterling] in the UK. However, it is not known if Euro RSCG, which won the business three years ago, will repitch.

Meetings with shortlisted networks are expected by the end of the month.

The desire to review is said to have come from General Mills. The company sees the Haagen-Dazs brand as too direct a rival to Ben & Jerry's, which is handled by Black Rocket Euro RSCG, a Euro RSCG network agency in San Francisco.

James Moseley, Pillsbury UK's managing director, denied that he had approached agencies. However, he added: "At some point we are likely to become part of General Mills. That may affect our agency situation."

The news comes shortly after Euro RSCG unveiled a high profile, 6.5 million [pounds sterling] campaign for Haagen-Dazs, which plays on New Age humour and introduces the strapline: "Pleasure is the path to joy." It features a ...