Hasta La Creative!

Bacardi has decided to consolidate creative and media for its major brands, choosing BBDO and OMD without a review, Adweek reported yesterday.

According to that publication, the process began with a secret meeting between Bacardi mangement, led by CEO Mike Dolan, and executives at BBDO and OMD. Within a couple of weeks the brand had struck a deal with the two agencies to consolidate its major brands, handing off both creative and media responsibilties to the pair of Omnicom shops. Prior to the consolidation, Bacardi worked with a wide variety of agencies on its creative accounts, with media handled by Mindshare in North America and Zenith in Europe.

“Our goal is to be able to work better and to create a closer alignment between our global and local operations,” Dolan said in a statement. “To achieve this goal requires that we work with a global network.”

“It was so unique in how this happened,” OMD worldwide CEO Mainardo de Nardis told Adweek. “It wasn’t about a review, pitches, presentations, spreadsheets, pricing. We feel empowered because this is a decision based on strategic discussions about how to improve Bacardi’s business. It’s a real partnership with a huge amount of trust. If only [all new business] could be like this.”

Among Bacardi’s 200 brands are flagship brand Bacardi, Grey Goose, Martini, Bombay Sapphire, Dewars and William Lawson’s. Due to a conflict of interest, BBDO will resign from Belvedere Vodka in the U.S. and Famous Grouse in the U.K.

Fast casual “better burger” chain Smashbuger has appointed Minneapolis-based creative agency as its creative agency of record, following a review.

According to an anonymous source, other finalists in the review (which originally consisted of twelve agencies) included independent agencies Grenadier in Boulder, Creature in Seattle and RTO+P in Philadelphia. Smashburger launched the review in search of an agency “to put greater emphasis on its brand story” and ultimately chose mono “for their all-in approach that combined strategic insights with their ability to translate those insights into outstanding creative.”

“We are always pushing ourselves and our agencies to deliver world-class creative with appeal that engages our customers and drives business growth,” Josh Kern, chief marketing officer at Smashburger said in a statement. “The team at mono clearly demonstrated a passion for the Smashburger brand as well as the ability to help us tell the story of the brand as the new way to eat a burger.”

A new national campaign from mono will roll out over the next several months, with print, radio, out-of-home and experiential expected to launch by the end of the month. Smashburger currently has over 310 locations in 34 states and seven international countries.

Cruise line Royal Caribbean has appointed TBWALondon as its UK creative agency of record following a review that launched in February, Campaign reports. The agency will be responsible for Royal Caribbean’s overall strategy, creative, direct and digital marketing in the UK. Incumbent JWT London did not participate in the review.

“TBWALondon very quickly got to the core of our business,” Jo Briody, the director of marketing and PR at Royal Caribbean International, told Campaign. “They showed a deep understanding of our challenges and opportunities, successfully marrying clever strategic thinking with great chemistry with our team at every stage.”

Royal Caribbean also launched a global creative review in February. JWT has been global agency of record for the brand since December of 2007. Competitor Norwegian Cruise Lines announced its own review earlier this week.

U.S. Bank has named Minneapolis-based agency Carmichael Lynch as its creative agency of record following a review,.

Carmichael Lynch will be responsible for traditional and digital creative, social media, and production. BSSP had held agency of record duties for the client since winning the account from Publicis Kaplan Thaler in August of 2013.

It is unclear if BSSP will continue to have any involvement with U.S. Bank.

“U.S. Bank is that rare client who knows exactly what they stand for, and has a clear, compelling vision that sets them apart,” Carmichael Lynch CEO Mike Lescarbeau said in a statement. “Our job is to tell the world how the 67,000 people of U.S. Bank are helping customers of all sizes improve their financial futures by selecting the right banking partner.”

U.S. Bank, which is also based in Minneapolis, cited “the full integration of Carmichael Lynch’s services, the power of the creative idea, and a shared belief that people are a company’s greatest asset – employees and customers” as reasons for the decision.

The account win is an important one for Carmichael Lynch, who lost the GNC business last week following a multiple month review.

L’Oreal’s American division, L’Oreal USA, is launching a review of its media business, Adweek reports.

Adweek points to the arrival of Nadine McHugh, senior vice president of omni media, strategic investments and creative solutions, as the likely impetus for the review, and McHugh will reportedly be overseeing the review process. Aside from incumbent UM, who handles TV and print buying (DigitasLBi is responsible for digital buying), it is unclear which agencies have been invited to participate, as well as if L’Oreal USA will be working with a consultant on the review. What is clear is that the review process will take a good deal of time.  for L’Oreal USA.

“We anticipate this comprehensive review to take us through the end of the year,” McHugh said, in a statement. “This review is about finding passionate, innovative and collaborative agency partners most attuned to L’Oréal’s culture and consumers and then working together to re-define the future of marketing.”

L’Oreal USA, whose brand roster includes Lancome, Maybelline and Redken, spent around $870 million on media in 2014, according to Kantar Media.

Vonage has selected FCB Garfinkel as its brand agency of record, following a review.

The brand launched the review in December, after parting ways with JWT, who won the account in early 2013.

“We’re thrilled to be helping evolve the Vonage brand,” said FCB Garfinkel CEO Lee Garfinkel, in a statement.  “This is a fascinating company, a proven disruptor and innovator that has consistently enabled connections and brought real value to consumers. Vonage has extended that same value into the business market, and we’re excited to tell that story.”

FCB Garfinkel is tasked with developing overall brand strategy and launching “a new brand campaign that articulates the depth of the Vonage value proposition not only for consumers, but also for businesses that are moving to cloud communications solutions.” New creative, which will likely encompass both broadcast and digital, is expected by the middle of the year.

Ameriprise Financial has selected McCann Erickson Detroit as its new lead creative agency, according to Adweek‘s sources. (We reached out to both agency and client, but McCann Erickson didn’t respond and we were unable to reach Ameriprise’s head of PR.)

McCann Erickson Detroit beat out three other finalists — identified by Adweek‘s sources as FCB Garfinkel, Merkley + Partners and Zimmerman Advertising — to win the account. Ameriprise spent an estimated $38 million on measured media in 2013, according to Kantar Media. The agency takes over for R/GA, who had handled the account since 2009 but declined to participate in the review. News of the review initially broke in January, as it headed into its final stages. Media buying and planning were not part of the review, and will remain with Initiative.

The agency’s official position is “no comment,” but today an AdAge report and a source close to the matter tell us that mcgarrybowen has resigned the Sears account rather than participate in a pending creative review.

Three years after its last full review, the client began making some agency moves back in early 2014 by sending its KCD or Kenmore Craftsman Diehard work from Y&R to Havas Chicago.

Y&R lost the client’s primary creative account to mcgarrybowen in May 2011 after 18 years; prior to that move, Sears made headlines in the industry for demanding ownership of “all creative work done by agencies pitching for the brand” no matter who won the account. We have no word on whether that’s still the case. Back in 2011, Adam Wohl (who is, appropriately, now an ECD at mcgarrybowen) made a video mocking the above request — but that video has since been set to “private.”

Last November, sources told Adweek that the company had begun reaching out to every major holding company, but today’s AdAge report claims that Sears recently placed the review on hold due to internal complications. What might those be? The company will announce its earnings for the latest quarter on Thursday, and yesterday The Motley Fool noted that Sears “is losing an estimated $7 million a day” despite closing some 200 stores in 2014; the writer wonders whether the chain will exist in its current form one year from now. (We should also note that Sears Holdings owns Kmart, which has been with FCB since 2007.)

We reached out to Sears corporate for more information on the review, but representatives have yet to respond.

mcgarrybowen’s most recent work for the soon-to-be-former client is December’s #MoreToYou holiday shopping campaign.

Marriott International named SS+K lead creative agency for JW Marriot, Adweek reports, handing the agency global creative duties for the luxury brand which has 79 locations in eight regions worldwide.

SS+K beat out several unspecified agencies in a review handled by Joanne Davis Consulting in New York, taking over lead creative duties from Team One, who will continue to handle advertising on Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton brand. The agency will partner with M&C Saatchi, who purchased a one third stake in SS+K last November, on ads overseas, taking advantage of M&C’s 21 offices outside of the U.S. Adweek notes that, “according to a recent job posting for a director of brand marketing,” the brand spends up to $30 million annually. Media responsibilities were not part of the review and remain at MEC.

Ace Hardware is in the early stages of a creative review and “a request for proposals is likely out to agencies,” sources told Adweek.

According to Kantar Media, the brand spent $52 million on measured media in 2013 and $57 million in the first nine months of 2014. Incumbent agency GSD&M has handled the account since taking over for Mars Advertising in 2009, and it is unclear if they are defending in the review. We reached out to the Austin-based agency but they declined to comment. Media buying and planning is not part of the review and will remain with Spark.