Hasta La Creative!

Costa Mesa-based fast food chain El Pollo Loco is looking for a new creative agency of record.

The account has been with Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners since 2012, when El Pollo switched shops after less than a year with Goodness Mfg. (The preceding review allegedly involved some 35 agencies.)

Representatives for El Pollo Loco have not responded to our email query regarding the current review, but sources confirmed the news this afternoon. It’s not clear at this time which agencies are pitching the business, though we do hear that Secret Weapon did not make the initial cut.

The chain has not been mentioned by advertising trades in recent years, but it has been expanding. In May, it hired former Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf CEO John Dawson to fill the newly created role of chief development officer and announced plans to open more than twice as many units in 2016 as it had the previous year.

El Pollo Loco has also made headlines for the pro-transgender hiring practices of one particularly successful franchisee, who runs six locations and says that she has employed transgender individuals for several years.

In 2012, Nielsen reported that the chain had spent $27 million on media the previous year.

If we had learned two things at this year’s Advertising Week, they would have been that Facebook is a media company that would rather not be known as such and that ad agencies are under a good bit of pressure to diversify.

Today the New York Times revealed that Verizon has joined HP and General Mills in calling on all of its agencies to hurry up. Earlier this month, Verizon’s EVP/CMO Diego Scotti sent a related letter to 11 of the shops on its roster. From that letter:

“At Verizon, we have the assets to change the world. … our purpose-driven culture gives everyone at Verizon a seat at the table to ideate and work together to solve the world’s biggest challenges.

That’s why I’m reaching out to you today to ask that your company make an important commitment to drastically improve the percentage of women and people of color in leadership roles and continue to support our diverse supplier community by awarding more subcontracting work to diverse businesses.”

He goes on to drop some key data points:

“At Verizon, we take great pride in having a workforce that’s 59% diverse (people of color and women). Worldwide women make up 35.7% of the workforce and in the U.S. people of color represent 40%.

Verizon spent more than $25 billion dollars with diverse businesses and $4.25 billion in 2015 alone. Moreover, Verizon’s board of directors is one of the most diverse boards in the country comprised of 4 women and 5 people of color — from a total of 13 board members.”

Unlike General Mills, Scotti does not list any specific numbers that these agencies must reach. But he does demand a response:

“… my expectation is that in the next 30 days you will share your current state of workforce broken out by number of women (by ethnicity) and people of color in your different levels, including senior leadership. Moreover, please provide your action plans that describe how you are growing workforce and supplier diversity.”

We think it fair to note that, while self-described “leading source of information on diversity management” Diversity Inc. lists General Mills as number 40 on its list of the 50 most diverse companies, Verizon does not appear on the list. Neither does HP.

Here’s a link to Verizon’s leadership team and here is a link to its Board of Directors, which does indeed include several women and people of color.

General Mills chief creative officer Michael Fanuele, who formerly worked in planning and strategy for Fallon, JWT and Havas, also had some words to share at this week’s events.

Of his own company’s call for diversity, he said, “It wasn’t some sort of moral high-horse stance about the failing ad industry.” Regarding agency efforts on that front, he continued:

“Some show up with all the right people around the table and it almost does feel like a quota of tokenism; it’s like ‘Oh, thank you. You found the, you know, Southeast Asian transgender woman who works somewhere in your network to come to our meeting to talk.’ And then other times it just looks beautiful and diverse and it’s very genuine and real…”

Sounds about right.

Back in March of 2015, Chobani dropped Droga5 as its agency of record, stating at the time that it planned to focus on “more in-house and project-based agency partners.” While the brand won’t be returning to the agency of record model, it has selected a lead creative agency in Weiden+Kennedy Portland. The appointment follows the arrival of Leland Maschmeyer as Chobani’s first chief creative officer in July.

Additionally, Chobani hired longtime consultant Lisa Gralnek as vice president of emerging platforms and Kwame Taylor-Hayford as managing director and head of creative technology and integrated production. She will report to chief marketing and brand officer Peter McGuinness while he will work under Maschmeyer.

Taylor-Hayford has worked in the accounts and production departments of several agencies; he was most recently partner and director of integrated production at Sid Lee in New York.

“This is an exciting time of high growth for us,” McGuinness said in a statement. “We’re proud to be evolving our internal team and our tech and creative capabilities, and proud to be partnering with the best agencies in the world to help tell our story.”

“It’s a dream come true when you find a client who is known for making bold moves, shares your independent spirit and values, and most importantly, believes in the power of creativity. Chobani is all that and more,” added W+K Portland managing director Tom Blessington. 

This is only the most recent in a series of changes for Chobani, which named Horizon Media as its new media agency of record in August and hired Galvea Kelly of L’Oreal as senior director of digital/content/social strategy and Danielle Cherry, formerly with Starcom, as senior director of media investment and connections planning.

W+K Portland’s first ads for Chobani are expected to debut in Q1 of 2017. Chobani spent $30 million on measured media last year and $20 million in the first half of 2016, according to Kantar Media. With sales growth up 20 percent year over year and the company’s plans for expansion with its Chobani Meze Dips and Drink Chobani lines, that number could continue to rise. 

San Diego-based telecommunications giant Qualcomm is in the midst of a creative agency review with incumbent DDB San Francisco defending. Kantar Media’s latest numbers tell us that Qualcomm spent approximately $10 million on measured media in 2015.

The company first hired the Omnicom shop in 2013 to “develop corporate image advertising.” DDB won a pitch that included Ogilvy & Mather for an account that was worth an estimated $2 million at the time. That review followed the appointment of CMO Anand Chandrasekher, who previously held several senior-level roles at Intel. He was “censured” several months later and effectively demoted after he referred to competitor Apple’s 64-bit A7 chip as “a gimmick,” prompting his employer to issue a correction; Qualcomm has yet to name a new CMO.

Both Qualcomm and DDB declined to comment directly on the current review. A DDB spokesperson deferred to the client, and a representative wrote, “we don’t comment on our internal relationships with our agencies.”

Multiple sources, however, have confirmed that the review is active and that DDB opted to defend. According to the same sources, the move was not unexpected as DDB’s original contract with Qualcomm ends this year.

The agency has created a variety of work for the client, launching its first brand campaign last April under the “Why Wait” theme. The campaign emphasized the speed of Qualcomm’s wireless technologies, with its VP of marketing and branding telling Adweek, “We have tremendous capabilities, but we’ve never talked about them.” Since then, DDB continued to develop the “why wait” in an additional spot released this January and, more recently, a documentary series called “Invent Off” in collaboration with director Andrew Fried of the Netflix food fetish series “Chef’s Table.”

We do not currently know which agencies are involved in the review beyond DDB San Francisco, which went through a round of downsizing this summer after founding client Clorox’s decision to send its creative business to FCB and mcgarrybowen.

MillerCoors named Philadelphia-based agency Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) as lead creative and digital strategy agency for its Miller High Life brand. The creative account had formerly been with Leo Burnett, whose shopper marketing agency Arc will continue to work with the brand, with DigitasLBi handling digital work.

MillerCoors also tapped roster agency Mekanism to handle its Keystone Light brand. Both changes were made months ago, but just confirmed to AdAge by brand representatives yesterday. We reached out to MillerCoors as well but have yet to receive a response. 

Other alcohol brands on Quaker City Mercantile’s roster include Hendrick’s Gin, Milagro Tequila and Rhode Island’s Narragansett Brewing Company.

Ashley Selman, MillerCoors vice president, marketing for emerging and economy brands, told AdAge that the brand did not assign AOR status on its economy brands but that Quaker City Mercantile’s assignment could include broadcast advertising, digital and packaging. “We are exploring all of that with them right now,” she said. “We wanted to take a slightly different approach, and we felt like getting to know the Quaker City guys and gals they had a really good finger on the pulse of where we wanted to go with Miller High Life.”

She added that the agency’s work with other alcohol brands was not a concern, stating, “One of the reasons we like them is their understanding of alcohol and consumers. We are not concerned about them working on other alcohols. We have a really clear agreement with them.”

The news follows Leo Burnett losing the McDonald’s account to Omnicom in August following a review launched back in April. Leo Burnett is currently defending in a review for General Motors’ GMC brand, launched earlier this month.

Gloucester, Massachusetts-based frozen seafood brand Gorton’s Seafood recently awarded social, digital, content development, media planning and buying, PR and shopper marketing duties to Connelly Partners, following a review.

In the process the brand ended a nearly decade-long relationship with agency Rinck, which handled social media, digital media, PR and promotions for the brand, as well as working on its website. To show that they were no hard feelings, and to celebrate its long relationship with the brand, Rinck created a music video.

Rinck president and longtime Johnny Cash fan Laura Davis had the idea of creating the video to a performance of “We’ll Meet Again,” the 1939 Vera Lynn song Cash covered on his 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around, the final album Cash released during his lifetime. Nearly all of the agency’s 38-strong staff appear in the video, dressed in black and wearing dark sunglasses in a Cash tribute. Director of digital content and strategy Neal Jandreau handles lead vocals and guitar for the song. The video was shot in a 19th century textile mill in Maine by director Ramsey Tripp of Trade-mark R Productions.

“We wanted to honor a relationship and collaboration that we had for nearly a decade, and the friendships that came along with it, with not just the client, but agency partners, vendors and others,” Davis told Adweek.

“I wanted to use the opportunity to set an example on how to end a business relationship well and leave the door wide open. The fact of the matter is that over the last nine years we’ve learned a lot together and I know there will be great things in the future for both of us.”

Newell Brands Inc. appointed global digital agency POSSIBLE to lead its online strategy.

The agency will be tasked with designing a digital experience that creates global consistency while also staying true to individual brands such as Paper Mate, Sharpie and Graco. POSSIBLE has already begun working on the initial phase of the effort, with the creation of initial brand sites.

“We are honoured to work with Newell Brands to help create a world-class experience that connects with consumers,” POSSIBLE president, Americas Jason Burby said in a statement. “We are passionate about delivering digital products that make a measurable difference. Combining high-consideration baby products from a brand like Graco with high-volume brands like Sharpie or PaperMate is a fantastic challenge.”

The appointment follows Newell Brands transferring global creative duties for brands including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Paper Mate, Calphalon, Irwin and Lenox from BBH to J. Walter Thompson New York without a review back in May. According to Kantar Media, Newell Brands spent around $91.6 million on measured media last year.

Following speculation this spring that General Motors was launching a review for its GMC and Buick brands, a spokesperson confirmed today that the company has issued a creative RFP to “multiple agencies”. The review is exclusively concerned with GMC, however, and the Buick brand will not be impacted.

Both accounts currently reside with Publicis agencies Leo Burnett and DigitasLBi, which will defend in the review. According to Kantar Media, the parent company spent $269 million on measured media for the brand last year.

Leo Burnett was appointed as lead creative agency for Buick and GMC in 2007 without a review and has worked with General Motors in some capacity for over 45 years.

“Expanding the relevance of GMC brand and positioning it for continued success are key priorities,” the spokesperson said. “To support this effort, GMC is inviting multiple agencies to participate in a RFP to develop advertising strategies for the brand. Our current agencies of record, Leo Burnett and Digitas, will participate in this process. This RFP is specific to GMC and does not impact in any way the relationship between Buick, Leo Burnett and Digitas.”

GMC declined to disclose specifics about the review and the new agencies involved aside from the fact that an RFP will be issued within 30-45 days and the review is expected to conclude by the end of the year. Two to incumbent agencies deferred to the client for comment.

Sources told Adweek that Leo Burnett and Digitas were informed of the RFP last week, following the announcement by McDonald’s that it had concluded its own creative/media review by sending its creative account to DDB, thereby ending its 35-year relationship with Leo Burnett and consolidating its account with Omnicom.

Back in June, the Detroit offices of Leo Burnett and Digitas LBi merged to form a new unit called Engage M-1, dedicated to serving General Motors, while retaining separate office spaces and agency brands. 

General Motors has made a few changes to its agency roster in the recent past. In February, General Motors sent creative duties for Chevrolet certified service and Chevrolet commercial vehicles to Commonwealth//McCann nearly a year after sending creative for Silverado to McCann. This year General Motors also sent PR duties on its Cadillac and Chevrolet brands to Kovert Creative and Weber Shandwick, respectively — and the Detroit News reports that the company will issue RFPs for public relations work on Buick and GMC by the end of this year.

General Mills made headlines this week by revealing on Tuesday that it has specific diversity requirements for the agencies competing in its creative review, requiring the creative departments of its future agency partners to include 50 percent women and 20 percent people of color.

Today we’ve learned that HP CEO Antonio Lucio sent out a letter to current agency partners with a similar call to action regarding diversity on August 30. After making an effort to foster diversity internally, with a specific eye toward closing the gender gap with female hires, HP is now asking the same of its agency partners. Among the recipients of the letter were BBDO, FleishmanHillard, Gyro, Fred&Farid and Porter Novelli.

“Diversity gives HP a competitive advantage. It helps drive new business, fuel innovation, and attract and attain the best employees,” an HP representative said in a statement offered to AgencySpy. “This letter is a call to action. Now that we have built our business case and begun to put our own house in order, we are relying on our agency partners to do the same; we are expecting these marketing and communications leaders to actively embrace diversity and actually do something about it.”

HP is expecting its agency partners to act fast on plans to increase diversity. “We have called upon each of our agency partners’ CEOs to develop a plan that significantly increases the representation of women and people of color in top creative and strategic roles,” the representative added. “Without exception the responses we have received are of true enthusiasm and commitment. Our agency partners now have 30 days to deliver their plans and 12 months to make good on those plans – and we intend to monitor each firm’s performance along the way.”

While the letter makes reference to a “a scorecard that will track multiple levels of diversity,” which HP has implemented for its own efforts and now expects to be adopted by its agency partners, it’s unclear if HP has specific diversity quotas for its agencies, as with General Mills’ demands in its creative review, or if it is working with its agency partners to determine the best way to reach its ultimate diversity goals. It’s also unclear if HP is echoing General Mills’ targeting of creative departments in particular. But it is clear that the company has set out a very specific timeline for agencies to set up and implement plans for increased diversity.

We’ve included the letter in full below:

A Challenge to Agency Leadership

August 30

Dear Friends,

Earlier this month I spoke with you — the CEOs of all of HP’s advertising and marketing agency partners — to ask

that we all join in making an important commitment to radically improve the percentage of women and people of

color in leadership roles in our organizations. I’m delighted that without exception you gave your enthusiastic

support for this pledge.

 

How successful we are will define our legacies. So, as you set your goals and make your plans, I ask you to keep

these points in mind:

 

At HP, our vision is to make technology that makes the world a better place for everyone, everywhere. But we

recognize that we can’t realize our vision if our business leaders don’t represent everyone, in color, gender, and

geography. We take great pride that HP has the most diverse board of directors in the technology industry, and

that we make diversity an explicit business goal. Yet I know we can do even more. I know we must do more.

Including women and people of color in key roles is not only a values issue, but a significant business imperative.

HP thrives on innovation. Study after study confirms that innovation is improved and accelerated by broad

perspectives and diversity of thought. Marketers are expected to have deep understanding and insight about their

markets, about decision makers, and about customers.

 

We are more likely to create solutions that amaze our customers if our workforce represents the communities we

serve. As a global company, we need to take a broad view of diversity as increased representation will take

different forms in different countries. We have decided to start by addressing women.

 

We make printers and personal computers. Who buys them? Women: 53 percent for computers, 45 percent for

printers. We are focused on ensuring that our marketing department has the right talent composition to capture

our business opportunities. Over the last 12 months we have invested in programs designed to ensure that at

least half of our top marketing jobs are held by women. It is important to understand that these were not random

moves to increase representation. Instead, they were new opportunities for high-potential people and strategic

hires and the quality of our team output has never been better.

 

To measure our own efforts, we are creating a scorecard that will track multiple levels of diversity of our own

global marketing organization. We are far from perfect, and I know there will be challenges, but I am committed

to immediate, global, impact, rigorously measuring our performance and being transparent about the gaps to

overcome.

 

I am asking the same of each of you.

My expectation is that in the next 30 days, you will deliver formal plans – and within 12 months make good on

those plans. Thank you for working to significantly increase the percentage of women in top creative and

strategic roles on our account.

 

We owe this to ourselves, to each other and to future generations. By making the important and necessary

changes today, together we can bend the arc of history in favor of inclusion and opportunity.

Now comes the proof of our commitment. Thank you for joining us.

 

Antonio

Antonio Lucio

Chief Marketing & Communications Officer

HP Inc.

Chinese multinational telecommunications company ZTE, which is also the fourth largest smartphone supplier in the U.S., selected The Baiocco and Maldari (BAM) Connection, the Brooklyn-based agency launched by former Grey execs Rob Baiocco and Maureen Maldari in 2014, to lead the U.S. campaign for its Axon 7 Smartphone after a review.

The BAM Connection will be tasked with developing an integrated campaign spanning online video, cinema, OOH, banner ads, digital, print, in-store and radio to drive sales for the Axon 7, which was first revealed in May.

“The BAM Connection is the absolute right partner to help us launch the Axon 7 and highlight the overall value it brings to consumers’ lives,” ZTE USA vice president of strategic marketing Andrew Elliott said in a statement. “We felt BAM excelled in a unique way compared to other agencies, and feel their creative abilities and thoughtful considerations across media are an asset.”

“We are thrilled to launch ZTE’s flagship Axon 7 device, which has already received rave reviews from consumers in the U.S. and other parts of the world,” added THE BAM Connection CEO Maureen Maldari. “Its premium features, combined with its budget-friendly price has already attracted many American consumers and we’re excited to build on the momentum it has already received in the market.”

The win would appear to be a project-based assignment that could lead to more work after the launch. ZTE declined to share more information regarding its billings or the agencies that competed for its business.

ZTE joins a client roster that also includes Akorn Consumer Health, LaPostolle Wine, VF and Valeant. You may also recall The BAM Connection’s effort last December to create alternate acronyms for the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn it calls home.