Liberty Mutual has narrowed the list of contenders in its creative review to include mcgarrybowen, Mullen, Havas Worldwide and incumbentHill Holliday, sources said. McCann Erickson was cut from the search late last week.

The Boston insurance company is now testing ideas from those agencies before making a decision in October. In June, Liberty Mutual put the business into review, appointing Pile + Co., Boston, to handle the process.

This week the marketer is also seeing final presentations from media agencies pitching its business, which has also been handled by Hill Holliday. Those shops are said to be down to the incumbent Hill Holliday, Carat, MediaCom and Mediahub/Mullen.

A Liberty Mutual rep could not be reached; participating agencies either declined comment or referred calls to the insurance marketer.

Some sources say that Liberty Mutual is reluctant to take both the creative and media business out of the Boston agency market, which would give home-town advantage to shops like Mullen, its Mediahub/Mullen unit and Hill Holliday.

Last year, the company spent nearly $150 million on measured media, up from about $116 million in 2011, according to Nielsen. That amount, however, does not include online spending.

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Liberty Mutual Cuts List in Creative Review