By Arun Sudhaman

The decision was confirmed by Diageo global communications director Stephen Doherty. The drinks giant began the review more than three months ago.

Grayling, said Doherty, will retain the external communications component of the brief. Burson-Marsteller, meanwhile, has been hired to handle “strategic research and thinking on employee engagement.”

Boutique player Impact Asia, which is based in Singapore, has been charged with executing internal comms. This decision follows the shifts of both Amy Wright and Kate O’Shea from Grayling to become joint heads at Impact in 2009.

The account is led out of Diageo’s regional HQ in Singapore.

Grayling was appointed to the brief in 2006. Last year, Diageo shifted its global corporate brief out of Cohn & Wolfe into Edelman.