M&C Saatchi has won the creative pitch for the Department of Health's £75m anti-obesity advertising account.

The DoH eliminated rival ad agencies AMV, VCCP and Wieden & Kennedy from the pitch to handle the advertising account for the three-year push.

The department, which announced in January that the wide-ranging campaign would be part of the government's Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives strategy, split the campaign business into three parts.

A total of 12 agencies entered the original pitch process, split into three groups of four, competing for the advertising, direct marketing and communications planning segments of the campaign.

Manning Gottlieb OMD has already been selected to handle the communications planning part of the campaign, beating Carat, Mediaedge:cia and Naked.

Direct marketing for the anti-obesity campaign is still up for grabs, with Craik Jones, EHS Brann, Partners Andrews Aldridge and Tullo Marshall Warren involved in the pitch.

The goal of the anti-obesity campaign is not to "single out" overweight people but to encourage healthy and active lifestyles.

People who do not link life threatening diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, with their diet and lifestyle are the main target audience.

The DoH will also seek other specialist ad agencies, such as ethnic marketing specialists and a digital and customer relations marketing agency, to assist the anti-obesity campaign.

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