Hasta La Creative!

Lowe’s confirmed today that it has launched a creative review and will no longer be working with creative agencies on an AOR basis. The news first ran in Adweek.

This is bad for BBDO, which has been creative agency of record on the brand for more than a decade, and for its parent company Omnicom, which already lost the media portion of the business back in February.

From a company spokesperson:

As we continue to explore compelling and efficient ways to engage with consumers, we made the decision to evolve our agency business model to one where we can collaborate with a roster of creative agencies. We believe this new approach will provide our team with the diverse thought, talent and capabilities needed to lead in a dynamic marketing environment.

We are currently working independently on the bidding process. BBDO is participating in the review process to be considered as one of the firms on our roster of creative agencies. We are just beginning the bidding process and can share more details in the coming months.

BBDO first won the business in a 2005 review, beating out Deutsch, McCann and TBWAChiatDay in an IPG vs. Omnicom pitch. It has successfully defended the account twice since then.

According to a couple of people who spoke to us, this is a procurement-based review that gained greater urgency when the incoming CMO Jocelyn Wong conducted an audit and found that Lowe’s spends a considerable amount on TV and print placements; much of BBDO’s recent work has been more focused on digital and social media.

The client’s paid budget came out to $400 million last year, but it’s not clear how much of that went to traditional media and much revenue BBDO draws from the account.

Nor is it clear which agencies are pitching—though it would not be surprising to see a small group of independent shops win portions of the business, as they did in the case of General Mills earlier this year.

[Pic via Lowe’s]

Air Canada has selected FCB Canada for a retail communications assignment.

“We are evolving our agency model and are elevating our brand presence and communications by partnering with best-in-class agencies, leveraging their expertise to complement our team’s robust capabilities. FCB has a proven track record in retail, and we look forward to this expanded relationship,” Air Canada managing director, brand Andy Shibata said in a statement.

The assignment will involve input from all of FCB Canada’s offices, including FCB Toronto and FCB Montreal, which will continue to lead work for Air Canada. Air Canada’s appointment marks an expansion of its relationship with FCB Canada, which dates back some twenty years.

“FCB Canada has had the pleasure of servicing Air Canada for more than 20 years, and this win solidifies the confidence that they have in us to continue our creative partnership moving forward,” added FCB Canada CEO Tyler Turnbull. “I am extremely proud of the FCB team for delivering an organic win, which both expands and strengthens our relationship with Air Canada.”

FCB Montreal president Samia Chebeir was also enthusiastic about the assignment, adding, “We have a unique momentum in Montreal, and I am extremely thrilled that our team is extending our partnership with Air Canada and leading this new venture. Air Canada has been going through a transformation in recent years, and we are incredibly proud to continue to be part of their journey to create more innovative engagement between the airline and its consumers.”

The assignment follows the arrival of a series of creative hires at FCB Canada in September. Back in February, FCB Canada welcomed group creative directors Matt Antonello and Noel Fenn to its Toronto office.

Casual dining chain Chili’s Grill & Bar has appointed Boulder, Colorado-based Fact & Fiction as its social media agency of record.

“In a rushed and oversaturated world where you have milliseconds to capture someone’s attention, we realized that telling our story through social media was an area where we could reinvent ourselves,” Chili’s chief marketing and innovation officer Steve Provost said in a statement. “We needed the right partner to challenge us, energize us and give us the production chops to be able to tell our story at the speed of social.”

“Social should be fun – it’s the perfect avenue to articulate a brand’s personality and voice strategically, yet fearlessly,” added Fact & Fiction partner Kyle Taylor. “The Chili’s brand has a strong heritage for a reason, and I’m thrilled that we get to help tell the story of what they do best: connecting friends and family over burgers, ribs and fajitas.”

Back in May, Chili’s parted ways with longtime agency partner Hill Holliday. At the time, the chain said it would move to working with agency partners on a project basis for future broadcast and digital campaigns. Hill Holliday had worked with the brand since winning the account away from GSD&M, an incumbent of some two decades, back in 2007. Chili’s subsequently launched a review which it concluded by awarding a project assignment to O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul.

Chili’s spent a total of around $129 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media.

Ford appears to be re-examining its relationship with WPP’s dedicated agency GTB going into 2018.

A client representative provided the following statement:

“We value the talented and creative men and women at WPP. They are trusted partners and curators of the Ford brand. As we are across the Ford business, we are exploring options to improve the fitness of our marketing and advertising operations. No decisions have been made.”

Representatives for both GTB and WPP deferred to the client.

It’s unclear if “exploring options” refers to a potential formal review, but the statement seems to indicate that Ford will reassess its relationship with the agency in some capacity and that unspecified changes are being considered.

Last month, the auto giant promoted Kumar Galhotra to CMO. Former CEO Mark Fields was replaced by James Hackett, who had run the company’s Smart Mobility division, back in May.

GTB has faced a series of setbacks this year. Longtime chief creative officer Toby Barlow left the Ford-dedicated WPP unit back in February, and the agency brought on TBWA veteran Tito Melega to replace him in September.

SVP, director of platforms and partnerships John Gray then went to Pinterest this spring before the agency laid off between 100 and 150 employees over the summer. Earlier this month, we also learned that Dwayne Raupp, who co-lead GTB’s invention design studio, Kinetic Optimism Studio, had left the agency to become executive creative director at Huge Detroit.

Consumer electronics company Sonos has selected WPP experience agency SET as its lead retail strategy and design agency for its activities in the coming year.

“We believe that once you experience a whole home sound system, it’s pretty obvious how awesome it is to have music throughout your home. We want to find ways to bring that experience to life in retail stores and online,” Sonos director, global retail marketing Omar Gurnah said in a statement. “It’s a big ask, but we’ve been hugely impressed with SET’s ability to help us with the challenge, both strategically and creatively; we couldn’t be more excited to work together.”

SET will service the account out of its New York office, with its first work expected in early 2018.

“SET is charged with delivering an exceptional retail experience for Sonos that extends their product campaigns through both physical and digital channels,” SET head of client services Emilie Vasu explained in a statement.

“We are excited to work with such a progressive experience led and like-minded brand as Sonos,” added SET CEO Alasdair Lloyd-Jones, who was promoted to the chief executive role last month after previously serving as chief strategy officer and president. “The challenges and opportunities of modern retail engagement are exciting ones and we’re confident we can help Sonos expand their brand in this environment while ensuring we deliver a consistent, impactful and relevant brand experience across the many varied channels and markets.”

Sonos spent just over $10 million on measured media in the U.S. last year and nearly $9.5 million in the first six months of 2017, according to Kantar Media.

Last November, Sonos stopped the installation of subway ads after learning that “Subway Therapy” sticky notes were being taken down to make space for them. In February, the brand ran a 90-second “Wake Up The Silent Home” spot created by Anomaly New York. Last month Anomaly introduced another spot for the brand, presenting its smart speaker as both “The Smart Speaker for Music Lovers” and a helpful tool in new parents’ sleep routine.

NBA simulation video game franchise NBA 2K has selected Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners as its new integrated marketing agency of record, following a review.

The assignment will include developing and executing a cross-campaign across broadcast, digital, brand partnership and point-of-sale marketing, promoting the release of NBA 2K19. BSSP’s first work for the brand will launch in spring of 2018.

“We chose BSSP for their ability to deliver concepts beyond advertising that drive consumer awareness and resonate with the NBA lifestyle,” NBA 2K vice president, marketing Alfie Brody. “The agency showed an innovative way of thinking about our brand that leverages our existing equities as well as expanding into opportunities that go beyond traditional marketing.”

“NBA 2K is a world-class gaming franchise, emerging as a brand with cultural connectivity,” added BSSP executive creative director Tom Coates. “They value creativity and work that is interesting and memorable. We are excited to be on their team.”

CP+B L.A. previously handled creative duties for the NBA 2K franchise, after taking over for Zambezi in 2014. Their recent work for the brand includes a campaign last December promoting the most recent version of the game’s Fitbit partnership and last April’s “Legends Live On” Kobe Bryant tribute.
Earlier this month we learned that CP+B is shrinking the size of its Los Angeles office, moving into a smaller location within the same Santa Monica building. Back in August, CP+B laid off around five percent of its Los Angeles office, after Infiniti moved parts of its global ad business from CP+B to 72andSunny. CP+B L.A. officially became global headquarters for the Infinti account last March.

For BSSP the account wins follows Mitsubishi naming the agency as AOR in September, following seven years with 180LA. BSSP resigned from the Mini account ahead of a procurement-mandated review back in March. The agency had served as U.S. agency of record for Mini since 2005.

NBA 2K spent just under $6 million on paid media promotions last year, according to Kantar Media.

As creative agencies compete for fewer, smaller, more project-oriented contracts, the most important question for many media shops is “do we really want to go through yet another review?”

According to three people who spoke to us, the latest client to issue a media RFP is TriHonda, the group consisting of more than 60 New York/New Jersey/Connecticut-area Honda dealerships.

The review remains in its early stages, and it marks the first time TriHonda has sought a new agency since 2012, when it assigned creative and media work to Publicis Kaplan Thaler and MediaVest, respectively.

A Publicis Media representative confirmed that the incumbent currently known as Starcom would not defend in the review, though it will continue working with other Honda dealerships across the country.

Honda’s national creative and media agency of record RPA declined to comment on the RFP, which is unrelated to a January review in which the indie shop beat out MediaVest to win back the account after three years.

Honda spends about $600 million on marketing in the U.S. each year. Two parties familiar with the business placed TriHonda’s annual paid media budget at just below $40 million, which is the same total Adweek reported in 2012.

We’ve been unable to reach TriHonda for comment.

It’s unclear whether TriHonda still retains a creative agency of record since the organization’s social media accounts only share national campaigns and its YouTube page is bare.

But here’san uncomfortable trip back in time to 1987, when thinly-disguised jokes about sexual dysfunction were apparently all the rage.

Spirits company Campari has reached out to agencies regarding its Skyy Vodka brand, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

The Skyy brand has been in something of a transitional phase since splitting with Venables Bell & Partners, which became its first lead creative partner in 2013 after Campari bought the brand for an estimated $200 million plus. The account had previously been with branding agency Lambesis, which made all those famous print ads, for 15 years.

Early last year, we noted that the brand was shopping around for a new creative agency partner. Its most recent campaign, launched in April, came from New York’s Agency 5 O’Clock, which specializes in beverage clients. That shop was co-founded by former BFG Communications VP and brand strategist Larry McGearty.

Here’s the spot, which was part of a larger campaign called “Make. Every Day.” shot by Irish fashion photographer Tony Kelly.

According to our source, Skyy reached out to several prominent agencies, but talks with at least one shop later broke down. Back in 2014, the brand’s estimated media spend was around $30 million.

Campari PR responded to our query regarding the review by writing, “we don’t comment on rumors or speculation.”

We also reached out to 5 O’Clock and will update this post if we receive more information.

In case you missed it, Liberty Mutual’s three-plus month review ended today with the insurance giant picking Goodby Silverstein & Partners to handle creative for its consumer business unit.

A statement from consumer markets CMO Emily Fink, via the Adweek report:

“We are very excited to work with the talented team at Goodby Silverstein & Partners. They bring proven experience in growing national brands, accomplished creative leadership, as well as strong strategic thinking and analytic capabilities to the table—all of which will drive our brand and business to the next level.”

As noted in our August post, the final rounds of the review pitted incumbent Havas, which won the business back in 2013, against GS&P, Grey and McCann New York.

Liberty Mutual will no longer work with Havas creative as of January 1, but the Havas Helia division will retain the CRM portion of the business.

From Havas:

Liberty Mutual is a fantastic company, and has been an amazing client and partner for the last three years. In that time, Liberty has grown from the No. 6 Home and Auto Insurance Provider to No. 3.

Together we have built one of the most iconic advertising campaigns the insurance category has seen—”Truth Tellers.”

Thus, we are disappointed in Liberty’s decision to part ways but wish the them nothing but the best and look forward to potential opportunities down the road.

The precise size of the win is not clear at this time, but one source close to the review estimated the total annual revenue from this business at $8-12 million.

Hill Holliday has been creative AOR for the larger brand since 2005, and that won’t change. The company spent more than $400 million in measured media last year, according to Kantar.

So you’re all aware that the Department of Labor fined financial advisory firm State Street Corporation $5 million last month for allegedly underpaying 305 women and 15 black employees during the years 2010 and 2011.

This news was especially noteworthy, of course, because the company’s subsidiary State Street Global Advisors was the sponsor of McCann New York’s “Fearless Girl,” the most exhaustively over-analyzed work of advertising in the last decade (at least).

Today, SSGA CEO Ron O’Hanley assured CNBC that his company is and has been committed to equal pay for equal work.

So that was pretty straightforward.

It’s also in keeping with what CMO Stephen Tisdalle told a panel at Advertising Week:

“Do we as an organization reflect the penultimate makeup and reflection in being a diverse organization? No. And that was a risk because a lot of the people felt the message might be diluted by a lot of cynical people saying, ‘Well who are you to talk about gender diversity when you’re not a perfect embodiment of it?’”

And so it has.

This is a bit of a complicated story, and few read past the headline about the company behind “Fearless Girl” agreeing to a multi-million dollar settlement.

SSGA is not the same organization as State Street Corporation, and the filing was based on data collected during a mandatory compliance review that happened because State Street is a federal contractor. In other words, it was not based on individual complaints made by the employees in question.

While the corporate org knew about the audit that started in 2012 and ultimately led to the fine, it’s not clear when SSGA’s leadership found out about the settlement. Most importantly, we don’t know whether they had any idea that this bombshell would drop when they commissioned McCann to set up Fearless Girl right across from Cipriani and that big bull.

But then O’Hanley didn’t get very specific in his company’s defense, either. And this story will forever remain a very good case study on the dangers of wrapping your brand’s message in social activism.

In old, sort-of-related news, aspiring sculptor Alex Gardega died earlier this month after being struck by a subway train on the Upper East Side. We bring him up because his lasting claim to fame will almost certainly be the small papier-mâché dog he placed next to the statue; it appeared to be peeing on her shoe.

We even interviewed him about it, and he said, “This is corporate fake feminism, and I’m totally pro-real feminism. That’s not what this sculpture is, and I thought I would enlighten [people].”