Hasta La Creative!

Office Depot OfficeMax has ended its relationship with Interpublic Group after approximately two and a half years and moved its entire account to Zimmerman Advertising without a review. According to several sources, the company did not issue an RFP and no agencies beyond Zimmerman were invited to compete.

McCann New York and UM had been handling the chain’s creative and media duties, respectively, since 2014.

The chain’s headquarters in Boca Raton is quite close to the Fort Lauderdale-based agency, and the two parties have worked together before: Zimmerman won the business in 2011 after Office Depot split with Y&R. As in this case, there was no review.

A Zimmerman spokesperson deferred to the client on the news today. We reached out to multiple executives at Office Depot, but none have responded to our queries.

A McCann spokesperson provided the following statement:

“We have enjoyed our relationship with Office Depot Office Max.  It has become obvious over the last few months that we needed to end our relationship. We are very proud of the work we delivered over the past couple of years. We want to thank ODOM for the opportunities they have given us and wish them every success.”

We hear that McCann and UM were not directly aware of the pending loss, though the end of the relationship may have been inevitable. Last summer, McCann’s production studio Craft Worldwide absorbed Staples’ creative production studio after that company dropped mcgarrybowen, thereby creating a potential conflict of interest with its other office supply chain client.

The two companies made plans to merge in 2015, but the FTC challenged the proposal that December, arguing that it would “significantly reduce competition nationwide in the market for ‘consumable’ office supplies sold to large business customers for their own use.” Both parties then abandoned the merger after a federal judge agreed with the FTC’s decision and blocked the deal.

Office Depot has been through some very significant changes since then. Last August, CEO Roland Smith announced his plans to resign, and the company named Gerry Smith, former EVP and COO at Lenovo, as his replacement last month.

We hear that the executive shift made the agency move more urgent and that Jordan Zmmerman’s existing relationship with the client’s svp of marketing played a role in the decision not to issue an RFP. The agency also often emphasizes its reputation for retail-focused work in pitches.

At least one sources claims that Office Depot has not been particularly active on the marketing front in recent months. But the agency did work on a holiday campaign, and the chain has increased its marketing spend in recent months.

According to the latest numbers from Kantar Media, Office Depot spent approximately $54.3 million on measured media in 2015 and $60 million from January to November of 2016.

This marks the second new business win in recent weeks for Zimmerman, which also took on a more prominent role on the Nissan business when the auto brand consolidated its ad business on the East Coast, moving away from TBWAChiatDay L.A. after more than three decades.

Earlier this week, Adweek reported that beauty giant CoverGirl had ended its 26-year relationship with Grey, picking Droga5 as its new creative agency partner after a review.

It’s true that Droga5 will be handling the business moving forward, but we’ve since learned that Grey resigned the account.

Representatives for Grey, Droga5 and CoverGirl’s parent company Coty declined to comment.

But sources close to the matter tell us that Grey officially resigned from all of the Coty brands it worked on (CoverGirl, Clairol, Wella, and various fragrances) on Monday Feb 13, just a couple of days before the Droga decision went public. At that point, the majority of the review had already been completed with Grey competing against Droga and other unnamed participants.

Last October, Coty acquired several key brands from P&G. Grey had been working on them for years under P&G and continued to do so. But according to our sources, the agency had significant disagreements with the company’s new leadership and also saw a potential opportunity arising with another major, unnamed beauty brand.

Coty is undeniably making big changes on most of its big brands. In a Q2 earnings call earlier this month, CEO Camillo Pane told investors that some of the key lines have not been performing as well as he hoped, and the company has responded by aiming to re-position them. We’re told that these revenue shortfalls and investor skepticism regarding the P&G integration increased the pressure to find new agency partners and sped up the process. In addition to CoverGirl, recent decisions saw Sally Hansen go to Anomaly and Rimmel/Bourjois go to BETC Paris. Coty has not yet picked a new agency to handle Max Factor.

Ultimately, the result is the same: the client launched a creative review that Grey seemed very likely to lose, and the agency opted to resign instead. We expect more news on this front soon.

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Last November, GoDaddy concluded a four-month creative review by naming TBWAChiatDay New York as its global creative agency.

It now appears that relationship will end by the time 2017 rolls around.

“We are winding down our partnership with TBWA by the end of the year. We appreciate the contributions they’ve made to our global organization,” a GoDaddy representative wrote in response to sources claiming that the two will soon part ways. “We’ll be reviewing other alternatives in the weeks and months ahead.”

The representative did not clarify whether that will entail a formal creative review, and TBWA declined to comment on the news. One source, however, tells us that the client plans to take more of its marketing work in-house and that TBWA may continue to work on certain projects outside the United States.

The development follows the June resignation of CMO Phil Bienert, who joined GoDaddy last year and promised to take its marketing efforts in a different direction. He was replaced by former CMO Barb Rechterman, who had assumed the chief customer officer role after Beinert came aboard.

GoDaddy characterized its last effort to find a creative agency as “an extensive review that included in-market meetings with GoDaddy country executives and agency teams in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, as well as the U.S.”

Prior to that process, the brand had worked with Barton F. Graf 9000. In January of 2015, the brand decided to pull a controversial Super Bowl spot from the agency after it met with online backlash.

According to Kantar Media, the brand spent an estimated $25 million on measured media domestically in 2014.

TBWAChiatDay New York launched its first effort for the brand, “Cats with Hats” in April. That campaign demonstrated the brand’s efforts to target small businesses owners … as well as the general appeal of cats in headwear.

Droga5’s newest client is The Paper of Record: our own hometown New York Times.

NYT reps told us today that they would not be able to help us in our search for more information regarding the relationship between the two, and Droga5 declined to comment.

But we can confirm, via multiple sources, that the agency has been working with The Grey Lady’s marketing department on a project basis. The nature of the work is not clear, but we hear that it ties into the paper’s larger strategic goals.

That almost certainly translates into increasing the NYT’s subscriber base and appealing to younger, more diverse audiences while maintaining its position as the dominant news brand in an increasingly splintered digital media ecosystem.

Last October, the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post surpassed the New York Times in overall web traffic for the first time; as the latter org’s Lydia Polgreen put in a tweet at the time, “Meet America’s new paper of record.” The same month, the Times’ editorial staff sent out a 12-page internal memo titled “Our Path Forward” and announced a very ambitious plan: doubling digital revenues over the next five years.

The Times’ digital subscriptions have been growing as print advertising dollars dwindle, but it may struggle to reach the aforementioned revenue goal. A September Digiday report noted the NYT’s plans to localize its editorial and marketing efforts and the challenges it faces in both expanding its global audience and attracting international advertisers that have traditionally worked with local publications.

Droga5’s first work for The New York Times should debut at some point in the coming months.

We would also note that this development has nothing to do with a May Style piece that cast Droga5 employees as a self-contained fashion show in what should forever serve as a case study in PR mastery.

Absolut Vodka appointed BBH London as lead global creative agency, following a review, The Drum reports. Sid Lee formerly held creative duties on the account and is believed not to have participated in the review.

“We are thrilled to have the creative and strategic talents of BBH join the Absolut family as we bring to life the next evolution of the #AbsolutNights campaign,” Absolut vice president, marketing Craig Johnson told the publication. “We are confident that the approach BBH demonstrated through the pitch process will extend our legacy of bold marketing that made Absolut one of the world’s most known and loved brands.”

BBH London’s first effort will be an iteration of the #AbsolutNights campaign launched in 2014 across all markets. Sid Lee’s Amsterdam and New York offices teamed up last May for an #AbsolutNights effort centered around a 30-second broadcast spot documenting related events in cities including New York, Berlin, Sao Paolo and Johannesburg.

BBH London managing director Adam Arnold told The Drum that the agency was “deeply proud” to be working with the client, adding, “Our ambition is to live up to its rich advertising heritage and at the same time make the brand meaningful to a whole new generation of drinkers. Creative opportunities do not come bigger or better than Absolut.”

The news follows Uber choosing BBH London as its first official agency in the U.K. back in March and the departure of  deputy executive creative director, managing partner Caroline Pay, and subsequent promotions of Ian Heartfield and Black Sheep Studios CEO Anthony Austin to deputy executive creative director roles in July.

Denver-based fast casual chain Chipotle is launching a creative review, seeking an agency partner to shape future marketing efforts on a project basis.

“We are working with Pile & Company as we explore the possibility of a new agency to help us with some marketing programs we are planning for 2017,” Chipotle communications director Chris Arnold told Adweek. “We are always evaluating our roster of agency partners based on current and anticipated needs.”

Chipotle has worked with Austin-based GSD&M since 2014, and that shop is among those being considered for future projects. The client signed also VICE-owned Carrot Creative at its social media AOR last year, with CAA making its best-known animated spots.

Chipotle has mostly avoided the traditional advertising model, eschewing broadcast spots altogether with the lone exception of an effort which aired during the 2012 Grammy Awards. It has instead run big budget digital ads, such as 2013 spot “The Scarecrow” and the recent “A Love Story,” an original comedy series entitled “Farmed and Dangerous” and attention-grabbing in-store efforts like the 2014 “Cultivating Thought” series of stories from famous authors on its cups and other packaging. With a new agency partner, broadcast advertising could be in the brand’s future, although Arnold declined to elaborate on specific plans.

The chain is, of course, still recovering from an E.coli scare last year, and repairing its reputation will undoubtedly be part of any new agency’s job description. GSD&M recently teamed up with animation studio HouseSpecial on a digital spot emphasizing Chipotle’s commitment to quality ingredients, a longstanding selling-point for the brand.

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.