Hindustan Lever Ltd (HUL) is India's largest FMCG company and no wonder the company's account is the most prized one for all media planning and buying agencies. As part of global review being undertaken by its parent firm, Unilever, it seems like HUL is looking at various firms to handle its media business.

For the last 14 years, WPP group company Mindshare handles HUL's media planning and buying. In fact, Mindshare has created an exclusive arm to handle the HUL account, Mindshare Fulcrum. Anybody would if you are talking of a Rs 1647 crore account, that's what HUL spent on ads in the last fiscal.

This is almost 5 times what HUL's peers in the FMCG business spend in a year. Industry estimates say HUL is followed by global competitor P&G, Henkel and Dabur who on an average spend around Rs 200-300 crore in a year. Then comes ITC, Marico Tata Tea and Britannia in the 50 to 125 crore bracket. 

This is why Fulcrum is also planning to actually move in with the HUL team in their new office, the Unilever Research Centre which is coming up in Andheri in suburban Mumbai.

Currently a team of around 30 professionals work only with Levers and these exclusive resources only manage different aspects of HUL's media strategy.

Remember all this is happening as part of Unilever's global restructuring programme called “One Unilever”. The focus is clearly to synergise and streamline operations and cut costs.

In 2008, Unilever simplified the structure of its business by merging its Home & Personal Care and Foods divisions to form a single division. That's probably why rival media agencies like WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic are said to have all jumped in the race hoping to get a slice of the HUL ad pie.

Media industry experts say the talk of renegotiations happen every year probably also to keep everyone on their toes. It is unlikely that overnight the business will move away from Fulcrum but even if a part does then it will be one of the biggest advertising shakeouts in the recent times.