Hasta La Creative!

Mass-market retailer Gap Inc. or The Gap recently launched a review seeking an agency to handle its U.S. digital media planning and buying duties, according to parties close to the business.

We don’t yet know which agencies are involved, but since the review is being led by a consultancy, it’s fair to say that some of the major players are pitching. The review remains in its early stages.

This development is in keeping with Gap’s ongoing attempts to adjust to a rapidly shifting retail market.

Craig Brommers, formerly of Abercrombie & Fitch and Speedo, became the company’s CMO just over a year ago. Well before his arrival, however, Gap became one of the first big-name clients to publicly eschew the agency of record model by moving work away from Ogilvy toward other shops on its roster around the world.

The client eventually split with Ogilvy entirely, bringing on Wieden+Kennedy as its new creative partner in 2014 before again pivoting to project-based work with agencies like Untitled Worldwide at some point last year. Similarly, Gap does not publicize its media agency relationships.

On a conference call last August, president and CEO Art Peck announced that the company planned to expand its marketing budget in an effort to counter sales trends that have lagged behind sister company Old Navy.

On that note, Gap remains a major account. According to the latest numbers from Kantar Media, the chain spent $178 million on paid media in the U.S. last year and $42 million during the first quarter of 2017. It’s not clear what percentage of that spend is digital.

The company’s most recent OOO promotions have garnered some media attention including a mention from uptown girl Christie Brinkley, who praised Gap for featuring a 63-year old woman in its ads. (That woman is herself.)

Gap’s media relations department has not responded to requests for comment on the review.

As our readers have predicted for weeks, MillerCoors officially consolidated creative duties on its Miller brands within the DDB network today. Moving forward, DDB Chicago will be global AOR for Miller Lite and Adam&EveDDB will handle Miller Genuine Draft. The decision follows a formal creative review involving several other competitors.

This means the beverage giant has split with 180LA after just over one year; it will also no longer officially work with TBWA sister shop Juniper Park.

Here’s the internal memo from CMO Dave Kroll, who recently returned from medical leave.

Achieving our growth imperative and ensuring that MillerCoors becomes First Choice for Customers and Consumers requires strong performance from our American Light Lagers. We’ve made great progress over the past couple of years, but still have work to do.

Miller Lite recently celebrated its 10th straight quarter of share growth. In order to accelerate our momentum, it’s imperative that we have the strongest team possible on board. Starting this week, we are consolidating the Miller Lite creative responsibilities at DDB Chicago. This transition will be seamless as we are keeping the business within the Omnicom family. We are moving some of the best creative talent from our previous agencies 180LA and Juniper Park, into a new team at DDB in order to have a best-in-class creative and planning team. DDB has made great strides on the digital side of the Miller Lite business over the last month, and we feel confident that this expanded team will keep the brand on its positive trajectory.

In addition to consolidating the U.S. Miller Lite creative business, we will also be strengthening our relationship with DDB by moving global creative for Miller Genuine Draft to DDB’s London-based agency Adam & Eve.

In an increasingly competitive industry, it’s crucial that we reward agency partners that share our commitment and vision for the future. We have the right brand purpose, the right brand world and the right creative to bring it all together. Now we have the right team in place to capitalize on the opportunity in front of us.

Thanks,
DK

Spokespeople for DDB deferred to the client, who didn’t go beyond the memo above. 180LA has not yet provided a statement.

According to one reliable source, the Miller Lite review saw DDB Chicago beat out the L.A. offices of 180, BBH and CP+B for the business. It’s currently unclear which agencies, if any, competed against Adam&EveDDB for the other account.

Just over two months ago, MillerCoors moved digital creative duties on the Miller Lite brand from DigitasLBi Chicago to DDB, apparently without a review. Since then, MillerCoors reps have declined on more than one occasion to confirm that they would be consolidating the account with DDB.

The parent company spent $130 million promoting Miller Lite in the U.S. last year and $27 million in Q1 2017.

TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles is in the market for a new car, and it might just be a Mitsubishi.

Earlier this year, Nissan surprised quite a few in the agency world by splitting with the Omnicom shop’s West Coast network after more than 30 years. Just over three months later, Mitsubishi—in which the company acquired a 34% stake in late 2016—also dropped 180LA as its creative agency of record.

Now we hear that TBWA hopes to make up for that loss by picking up the smaller account. According to Kantar Media, Mitsubishi spent $95 million on U.S. marketing last year.

The Nissan work didn’t leave Omnicom, it simply moved from TBWA L.A. to Zimmerman (broadcast) and the former agency’s New York team (social and digital). And since Nissan now owns part of Mitsubishi, its leadership is very familiar with the Omnicom roster. Like Pepsi, it seems that they’d prefer to keep things within the family.

On that point, one source very close to the matter tells us that TBWA’s West Coast executives recently had a meeting or meetings with Francine Harsini, senior director of marketing at Mitsubishi North America. This would not be the first time Harsini has come into contact with TBWA: she formerly served as managing supervisor there before moving in-house with DirecTV and eventually going to the Japan-based car company.

It’s not yet clear whether the two parties will work together. According to our source, Mitsubishi is notoriously hard on its agencies, and several people who worked on the account in the past told us that the client had been sending project work to independent L.A. shop Omelet and using that organization’s lower rates as leverage against 180LA.

Another party tells us that the meetings were part of a formal review involving TBWA, Omelet and other unnamed agencies.

A TBWA spokesperson deferred to the client, whose PR department has not responded to any of our calls or emails about the recent changes in its agency lineup. Omelet also declined to comment on the earlier story about its relationship with Mitsubishi.

More news to come on this account.

PespiCo has launched a closed creative review for its Pepsi brand in the U.S., open only to Omnicom agencies.

“Omnicom has been our longstanding partner because we value the diverse array of agencies and talent they have under one roof,” a Pepsi spokesperson said in a statement. “We continually evaluate the best ways to market our brands, and in the U.S. on brand Pepsi, we are once again looking within Omnicom for custom creative solutions.”

We reached out to Omnicom shops Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, DDB, TBWAChiatDay and BBDO. The latter agency deferred to the client, while the other three agencies have yet to reply.

Omnicom has primarily handled work on the Pepsi brand in the past. In recent years, however, the brand has not restricted itself to Omnicom agencies and has worked with agencies outside the network, including Mekanism. In 2008, PepsiCo shifted lead creative duties from BBDO to TBWAChiatDay for the brand after over 50 year with the former shop. BBDO started working with the brand again in 2015.

Greg Lyons was promoted to chief marketing officer for PepsiCo’s North America Beverage Division at the beginning of the year.

Retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is currently the largest such chain in the U.S. and trails only Walmart in overall market share, has named a new chief marketing officer.

Scott Hudler joins the Pittsburgh-based company exactly two months after its former CMO Lauren Hobart became president.

Before making the jump, he spent more than a decade in marketing at Dunkin’ Brands, the Dunkin’ Donuts chain’s parent company. Hudler began in brand marketing and eventually moved into the SVP, chief digital officer role last year. He previously held several positions at Mars including brand manager for Snickers.

Hudler now reports to Hobart, herself a veteran of PepsiCo’s North American carbonated drinks division.

You won’t be surprised to learn that the announcement focuses on Hudler’s digital experience as Dick’s—and every other retail company—moves to adjust to the new reality of online sales. During his tenure, Dunkin’ emphasized mobile and digital assets like a loyalty program and order-ahead platform.

Dick’s currently operates more than 800 physical stores and an ecommerce platform. In terms of sales, it is well ahead of nearest competitor Academy Sports + Outdoors, which picked FCB Chicago as its first creative AOR after a review last January.

The big question for this blog, of course, is what will happen to Dick’s current agency roster. Anomaly has been creative AOR on the brand since 2012, with Huge handling social and MKTG INC on events and experiential work.

According to the latest numbers from Kantar Media, Dick’s spent around $90 million on marketing in the U.S. last year.

French automotive brand Citroën sent its global creative account to Havas network’s BETC, which subsequently launched a dedicated agency called Traction.

The integrated Traction agency will be dedicated to servicing the Citroën client globally, led by BETC Paris presidents Bertille Toledano and Stephane Xiberras.

“To have the opportunity to take the creative lead of such an incredible automobile brand, that has produced legendary creative campaigns, is an honour and a great responsibility,” Xiberras, whose title for Traction will be executive creative director, said in a statement published by LBB.

Arnaud Belloni, Worldwide Chief Marketing of Citroe?n, says:”I grew up with the imagery of Citroe?n iconic communication items, with the chevrons, the aircraft carriers, and the ‘revolutionaryr men.’ We want to use the spirit of its past as inspiration to foster its revival and bring the brand back to modern values,” added Citroe?n’s head of marketing Arnaud Belloni.

The Citroe?n account has been with the Havas Network for around thirty years, most recently residing with Les Gaulois. In 2014, the agency highlighted a dog’s stretching routine and channelled 70s car chase scenes in a pair of spots.

Traction will officially open its doors on October 1, with a location on “the third floor of Les Magasins ge?ne?raux in Pantin,” accoding to LBB.

The Campbell Soup company has shifted creative responsibilities for its Chunky brand from BBDO to Y&R without a review. The latter shop had handled the account for just over 20 years.

Sports Business Daily first broke the news this morning, noting that the parent company had “quietly moved” the business. BBDO deferred to the client for comment.

“BBDO has been a valuable agency partner to Campbell for many years and has done great work with the Campbell’s ‘Made for Real Real Life’ campaign and the launch of our new brand, Well Yes!,” a client spokesperson said. “We recently made the decision to transition the Campbell’s Chunky soup business to BBDO to create breakthrough work that resonates with our consumer, leverages the equity of the NFL and inspires fearless creative thinking.”

The Campbell representative also praised Y&R’s “excellent work,” noting that the client will continue to work with them “in other parts of the business” like cookies and crackers brand Pepperidge Farm and adding, “We want to thank them for their longstanding support and contribution to our Chunky business for many years.”

“Campbell’s has made a strategic marketing decision to bring all their soup brands together and BBDO will be overseeing all aspects of their future initiatives,” wrote a Y&R spokesperson. “Y&R created a unique, meaningful and enduring position for the Chunky brand, beginning in 1996 with ‘The soup that fills you up right.’ That campaign was articulated through a powerful NFL partnership and included both actors and real-life moms of NFL players which resulted in tripling the size of their business. Our most recent campaign “Everyman All-Star League” also helped drive double-digit growth for the brand.”

The statement continued, “We are proud of everything we have done with Chunky’s over the years and wish Campbell’s continued success with their all their soup brands. We look forward to continuing to work with Campbell’s Pepperidge Farm brand to further grow their global baked snacks business.”

According to the Sports Business Daily report, BBDO’s work will closely follow the mothers and sons theme established by Y&R. The new campaign, set to break in August right before the new NFL season—will consist of a series of spots starring Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly and, presumably, their mothers.

Campbell is one of BBDO’s legacy clients as the agency has worked with the company in some form since the early 20th century, developing its iconic “M’m! M’m! Good” tagline.

Y&R picked up Chunky in a “suprise” 1996 move; the account had been with now-defunct Backer Spielvogel Bates or BSB. The larger Campbell company has made some other changes to its agency lineup in recent years, most notably sending prepared foods brands Prego, SpaghettiOs, Pace and Ready Meals to Anomaly in early 2016 (there had been no incumbent on these accounts).

Surprisingly, the spending totals for Chunky are significantly lower now than when Y&R won the business more than 20 years ago. At the time, AdAge estimates put the brand’s yearly budget at approximately $20 million. Now, Kantar Media’s latest numbers have Chunky spending just under $7 million on measured media in 2015 and $8.3 million in 2016.

MEC remains Campbell’s media agency of record.

The Cannes Lions is almost over for yet another year, and you’ve probably been following the action. (What do you mean, you haven’t been following the action??)

Back in the real world, we do have some news today: AB-InBev has split with FCB and launched a creative review for its Lime-A-Rita brand.

This afternoon, Adweek broke the news that the company has issued an RFP. From a spokesperson:

“We are proud of the work that was created from our collaboration with FCB Chicago and Lime-A-Rita, which has produced a number of memorable ads since 2015. As the brand evolves, we continually look to refresh our perspective and evaluate our agency structure.”

FCB’s Chicago office had been working on the account since at least 2015, and last February helped the parent company launch the not-beer line’s biggest campaign ever with a little help from the 15-year-old Nelly jam “Hot in Herre.”

A second promo wave arrived in March, which brought a new array of flavors and the multi-spot “Margarita Moment” campaign. This effort was notable for catering more directly to women in their ’20s (who make up 65 percent of the brand’s consumer base) and involving “female-led marketing and creative teams” on both the agency and client sides. The ads were directed by Tricia Brock of Hey Wonderful, who has also helmed episodes of Girls and The Big Bang Theory, among other shows.

AB-InBev did not elaborate on the reasons for the review, but it’s worth noting that the brand provided a rare sales bounce for the beverage giant back in 2014 as its beers lost market share. Those sales dropped off in late 2015, and the new marketing efforts do not appear to have helped the brand recover.

It’s not clear at this time which agencies have been invited to the pitch. FCB representatives have not responded to requests for comment.

According to Kantar Media, AB-InBev spent around $15 million promotion Lime-A-Rita last year but shelled out less than half a million in the first quarter of 2017.

Telecom provider Frontier Communications has issued an RFP seeking a creative agency of record. New York search consultancy Roth Ryan Hayes will manage the review.

Catapult Marketing of Stamford, Connecticut is incumbent on the business, and we’re told they will defend. We do not currently have any additional information regarding the agencies invited to participate in the review.

According to the press release, “The review will seek to identify a best-in-class agency to deliver innovative brand strategies, breakthrough creative and digital capabilities, and performance marketing expertise for Frontier.”

Catapult and Frontier have been working together since 2012, and the agency created the brand mascot Frank the Buffalo. Here’s a brief case study regarding the relationship that the agency released last year.

…and here’s a recent broadcast spot.

The company specializes in providing broadband, telephone and other communications services to primarily rural areas in 29 states.

Frontier, which recently moved to expand its service area by acquiring assets owned by other telecom businesses like Verizon, announced earlier this week that John Maduri, a three-decade veteran of the industry, would become its new EVP of consumer sales, marketing and product.

Kantar Media lists Frontier’s paid media spend at $37.1 million and $25.6 million for 2015 and 2016, respectively.

A spokesperson for the consultancy, however, estimates the client’s annual marketing budget to be greater than $50 million moving forward.

Sony PlayStation has named the D.C. office of AKQA as its newest digital agency, following a review.

An agency spokesperson declined to comment on the account today, but the source who confirmed the news said the assignment encompasses web design, game trailers, digital video, UX and more.

The review is rumored to have included Deloitte’s Heat and three other agencies, in addition to AKQA. The client, which is notoriously press-shy, purportedly structured the review process so that competitors wouldn’t know who they were pitching against. AKQA’s D.C. office already counted gaming companies Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft among its client roster, and that category-relevant experience most likely factored into the win.

BBH New York has handled creative duties for PlayStation since being named lead creative agency February of 2013, following a review which included finalists Anomaly, 180LA and then-incumbent Deutsch.

It’s unclear whether the new assignment will have any impact on the scope of BBH New York’s work. The gaming giant has also worked with Johannes Leonardo and VB&P to promote the PlayStation Vue.