…Molson Breweries has eliminated all the small shops from its creative review and has a long shortlist that includes some large Canadian agencies – Young & Rubicam, Cossette, Leo Burnett and Taxi have been mentioned – as well as some U.S. and British firms. U.S. agency names making the rounds are Arnold Communications, Wieden & Kennedy, and Fallon McElligott and, from Britain, Abbot Mead Vickers and Bartle Bogle Hegarty. The next stage in the review is expected to focus on strategy and problem-solving rather than creative ideas.

…Molson is looking seriously at Arnold Communications, the Boston, Mass.-based shop known for putting Volkswagen back on the map in North America. Choosing Arnold, which has a small account service in Toronto, would parallel Labatt’s move to Ammirati Puris Lintas (then Ammirati & Puris) when Richard Kelly was a consultant for that brewer. It worked for Kelly once – it might just work again.

…Coca-Cola Canada is down to the short strokes of its media review, despite the fact that it has delayed the final decision until the end of August. It’s not known who the finalists are, but Starcom (incumbent Leo Burnett’s media shop) and MediaVest (Bensimon Byrne D’Arcy) are said to still be in the running, while Optimedia (Publicis), another incumbent, is currently handling Coke’s fall buy.

…We’re not likely to see a merger of Interpublic’s media buying shops in Canada. There are too many potential conflicts for Western International Media’s multifaceted client Walt Disney, and it goes without saying that legendary combatants Labatt Breweries (Ammirati Puris Lintas, creative) and Molson Breweries (Initiative Media, media) could not be handled under the same roof.