Hasta La Creative!

Food and supply store chain Smart & Final is in the RFP phase of a creative agency review, according to parties who reached out to us this week.

The California-based company, which formed as a conglomerate of several retailers, has worked with several agencies in the past.

The Phelps Group won a 1998 review to help the business rebrand, and Newport Beach’s HEILBrice appears to have been its last AOR, based on this brand spot shared on the agency’s YouTube page about a year ago.

A Smart & Final spokesperson declined to discuss the review, writing, “As a matter of practice, Smart & Final does not publicly comment on information related to its agency partners.”

According to Kantar Media, Smart & Final spent just over $5 million on measured media in 2016.

In terms of the overall business, the chain recently saw its revenue dip after acquiring several bankrupt Haggen Inc. stores and turning them into Smart & Final Extra! locations. But the company remains in expansion mode, and according to Supermarket News it “posted net income of $12.9 million [for 2016], vs. $38.3 million a year ago.”

We do not currently have information regarding the agencies involved in the review.

ConAgra has consolidated its North American marketing with DDB Chicago, moving the entirety of the account from DDB San Francisco without a review.

The client, which moved its headquarters from Omaha to Chicago last year, was reportedly impressed with the We Are Unlimited model that a DDB-led team used to win McDonald’s back in August.

“DDB North America has outlined a future-forward agency model powered by DDB Chicago, partnering with Annalect and Sparks & Honey, designed to move our business forward,” ConAgra Brands chief growth officer Darren Serrao said in a statement. “The time is right to recalibrate our agency/client partnership so that we can work more fluidly and effectively. DDB Chicago’s close proximity is also a plus for us.”

“We quickly assembled a team using the blueprint around the thinking we did for McDonald’s,” DDB North America CEO Wendy Clark told Adweek. “In a matter of weeks, we put together something that looks revolutionary to the business. This is not a lift and shift, but a blueprint we can follow.”

Clark visited San Francisco to deliver the news in person this week, and the press release states that it will “impact” 10-20 employees in that office without elaborating. Clark said that DDB S.F. will focus more on Silicon Valley clients moving forward, and as an example she cited an upcoming campaign for client The Pacific Gas and Electric Company that will promote green energy initiatives in California.

DDB San Francisco has handled ConAgra’s major brands since a consolidation in 2013 and began working on ConAgra’s Banquet brand in 2004.

ConAgra counts Slim Jim, Hebrew National, Healthy Choice, Chef Boyardee, Orville Redenbacher’s, Jiffy Pop, Hunt’s, PAM, Peter Pan and Wesson among its roster. Kantar Media puts its annual spend across the portfolio at around $125 million.

The Chicago office has already begun working on an unspecified brief.

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