Hasta La Creative!

Back in May, Brinker International casual dining chain Chili’s Bar and Grill put its advertising account in review, following a decade with Hill Holliday. Parties with direct knowledge of the matter told Adweek the chain would not seek another agency of record but instead work with agencies on a project basis.

Chili’s has now concluded its review, awarding an advertising project to O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul.

“Chili’s is the leader in the enduring bar and grill category whose ‘sea of sameness’ menu and advertising models are increasingly broken,” Chili’s executive vice president, chief marketing and innovation officer Steve Provost, who took that role in March after seven years with Brinker sister brand Maggiano’s Little Italy, explained in a statement. “We need to reinvest and differentiate our food and then find creative communication to convince Chili’s lovers and former Chili’s lovers to reconsider us, in a world where guests are deluged every day with promises of ‘better and ‘new.’”

“After a quick, but intensive search process, we found an agency, OKRP, that is reinventing the enduring model in their business and we felt that they are the right partner in this challenge,” he continued. “OKRP knows the rules of food advertising in order to break the rules of food advertising. They have demonstrated a quick understanding of our business, and how to connect with consumers with humor and humanity. Their scrappy, creative energy is just what we need to move our brand forward today.”

“Chili’s is an iconic brand in a category we know and love,” added OKRP CEO Tom O’Keefe. “We do our best work with brands challenging the business conventions of the day and are very excited to be working with Chili’s in its next chapter of growth.”

The agency’s new campaign for the brand is expected to launch in the early fall and run through the second quarter of 2018. Chili’s spent around $129 million on measured media in domestically last year, according to Kantar Media.

OKRP’s appointment follows an agency chance at another struggling casual dining chain which also plans to launch a new campaign this fall.

In March, DineEquity brand Applebee’s selected Grey as its creative agency of record, concluding a review launched in December. Grey’s first work for the client, a campaign introducing the chain’s new “Topped and Loaded” menu, debuted last week. The agency’s first major brand campaign for Applebee’s is expected this fall.

Today Revlon consolidated its advertising account with WPP, naming Grey as its global creative agency of record and naming MediaCom as its global media agency of record for its entire brand roster. MediaCom had handed the North American media business since 2010.

The appointments were made without a review.

“I wanted to share the terrific news that Grey has been selected as the global creative agency of record for Revlon, one of the world’s leading global beauty companies with sales in 150 countries,” Grey chairman and CEO Jim Heekin announced in an internal memo today.

Heekin went on to specify that Grey’s New York office will serve as the “global hub” for the account, with the agency’s responsibilities including “traditional and digital advertising, promotion and activation marketing.”

Here’ the memo in full:

I wanted to share the terrific news that Grey has been selected as the global creative agency of record for Revlon, one of the world’s leading global beauty companies with sales in 150 countries.

The global portfolio of brands we will handle includes two of the company’s largest, Revlon and Elizabeth Arden, among others.  We will provide integrated communications services including traditional and digital advertising, promotion and activation marketing.  Our flagship New York office will serve as the global hub.

Calling Grey one of the foremost beauty agencies in the world, our new client said we demonstrated superb creativity, strategic thinking, integrated capabilities and a deep understanding of the beauty sector.

Revlon’s iconic stature, rich heritage and reputation for continuous innovation has made it an industry leader since the 1930s.  It is an honor to be entrusted with Revlon’s brand portfolio and to work together to break new ground in global marketing.

I want to congratulate and thank everyone who has contributed to this win especially our intrepid beauty team leaders Debby Reiner, Seema Patel and Alice Ericsson.

This huge win, along with those of Walgreens and Applebee’s, coming as they have in our Centennial year, underscore the success of our “Famously Effective” creative philosophy.

Regards,
Jim Heekin, Chairman & CEO

We don’t currently have spending totals for all of these brands. But it’s safe to say that, in the words of Joe Biden, “this is a big fucking deal.”

Kids seeking to break the frustrating cycle of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder take to the streets on their bikes in this fast-moving ad from the Specialized Foundation, an offshoot of Specialized Bicycle Components that touts cycling’s positive effects on health and well-being. Research shows that biking, and other forms of exercise, can help ADHD students find focus…

And the English one:

McCormick heads to Europe to add some spice to its lineup

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Barton F. Graf’s executive creative director breaks it down for you in under a minute in this video from the sidelines of Ad Age’s annual Small Agency Conference, taking place this year in Nashville.

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Ad Age “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco’s media roundup for the morning of Thursday, July 20:

Surprise! Donald Trump still has the capacity to surprise — not only the American public but those who work closely with him. That’s something of an accomplishment, right? Perhaps a major (or even huge) accomplishment. And, go figure, he used the “fake media” to do it. Anyway, let’s get started …

1. A Politico post this morning headlined “Trump goes off-script and fumes about Sessions and Russia probe” (subhead: “The president’s harsh criticism of his attorney general and the Russia probe came amid a last-ditch effort to salvage health care reform, and startled many in the West Wing”) makes POTUS sound practically bipolar. Josh Gerstein, Josh Dawsey and Darren Samuelsohn write,

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Shares in Sears Holdings kicked off their biggest rally in almost two months after the company agreed to sell its Kenmore line on Amazon.com and integrate Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa into the appliances. That means the company’s air conditioners and other devices will respond to voice commands.

Terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed, and it’s unclear how much of a boost Sears will get from the arrangement. But the company is badly in need of growth. Once the world’s largest retail chain, Sears has racked up more than $10 billion in losses over the past six years.

The announcement brings fresh hope that Sears can adapt to a rapidly shifting retail landscape. Department-store chains have been hard hit by sluggish mall traffic and online shopping. By teaming up with Amazon, Sears brings new life to its more-than-century-old Kenmore name and opens up a new sales channel.

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Chili’s Grill & Bar has hired O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul for a major marketing project as the chain tries to reverse recent trends, Ad Age has learned.

Like the broader casual dining industry, Chili’s has been struggling as diners opt to eat at home or at less expensive restaurants. It has also suffered from the rise of ecommerce, which has reduced consumers’ trips to the shopping malls near which chains like Chili’s often put stores.

Chili’s is no longer working on creative projects with Hill Holliday, which was its agency of record for almost a decade, though Hill Holliday appears to still be handling some media work for the brand.

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Unilever’s 3% organic sales growth was slightly below analyst projections for the second quarter, but the company handily beat expectations on earnings and margin thanks to lower agency and production costs. Still, the world’s second biggest ad spender plans to step up new-product launches and media in the second half.

Here are five key takeaways from today’s earnings announcement by the marketer of Dove, Axe, Hellmann’s and Seventh Generation.

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Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox must wait for further progress on its bid to buy Sky after the U.K. government said it needed more time to weigh its next move.

The U.K. will decide in coming weeks whether to send the 11.7 billion pound ($15.2 billion) bid for a six-month regulatory review, Culture Minister Karen Bradley told lawmakers Thursday in Parliament. Bradley said she may announce her decision during the body’s summer recess, which starts Thursday and ends in early September, breaking with tradition to expedite the process.

The possibility of an announcement during the break drew protests from opposition politicians, highlighting the pressure being brought on Bradley, a member of the ruling Conservative Party, by the Murdochs and their detractors. Bradley said she was still inclined to refer the deal to the Competition and Markets Authority for an investigation into the Murdoch family’s media influence, and left open the chance of a wider probe revisiting their past corporate-governance failings.

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