VCCPme – MacMillan Cancer Support
Macmillan Cancer Support has announced the consolidation of their World’s Biggest Coffee Morning business into the VCCP Group, following a competitive pitch handled by creativebrief. VCCPme, the direct and data arm of VCCP, will provide creative and strategic support for the charity’s flagship fundraising event, which has raised over £160m since its inception back in 1990. The work will span all direct activity, including the development of the Coffee Morning Kit, email and digital, as VCCPme seeks to drive both acquisition and retention of Macmillan’s key audiences ahead of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning 2017. The win further strengthens VCCP’s relationship with Macmillan following the agency’s appointment as lead brand agency in 2012.
Droga5 – Sprint
Sprint has named Droga5 as its new creative agency of record after two years with Deutsch. VP of corporate communications David Tovar confirmed that the fourth-largest telecom company in the US, moved its account to Droga5 without a review, and that the agency will continue working with Omnicom's Alma on Hispanic marketing. According to the latest numbers from Kantar Media, Sprint spent $763 million on paid media in 2015 and $305 million during the first six months of this year. Droga5 will collaborate on the business with Yellow Fan Studios, the in-house production unit launched by Sprint earlier this year. Spokespeople for both the agency and the client said Droga5 will handle work related to strategy, positioning and the overall “Brand experience” for Sprint, with the first creative products of this new partnership debuting early next year. Deutsch had been lead agency on the account since beating Arnold Worldwide in a November 2014 pitch.
Merkle – Time Warner
Time Warner recently moved Warner Bros' more than $250 million digital media account from an Omnicom media-buying agency to Merkle as the media giant tries to sync up ad efforts across its disparate brands, according to sources familiar with the matter. Omnicom continues to handle the traditional media part of the account. Merkle, a large agency that specialises in customer relationship marketing, helps marketers craft loyalty programs, manage reams of customer data and execute digital ad efforts, such as search advertising and digital ad buying and analytics. Merkle is majority-owned by Japanese ad giant Dentsu. For Merkle, a Warner Bros win proves it can compete with other types of agencies, as the lines blur between media, digital and creative agency capabilities. Merkle participated in the Warner Bros. pitch long before Dentsu’s investment in the agency a few months ago.
Mother – HMD Global (Nokia)
HMD Global, the Finnish company founded this past May with the purchase of Microsoft Mobile to launch the next generation of Nokia phones, has selected Mother as its lead global agency, following a review which saw the agency beat out undisclosed competitors. Mother’s first work for the brand, a global launch campaign for the next generation of Nokia smartphones, will roll out in 2017, followed by a series of product launches over the course of the remainder of the year.
AllTogetherNow – Karen Millen
Following a competitive pitch process, London-based international fashion house Karen Millen has appointed content and digital engagement agency AllTogetherNow to handle the social, content, media and paid social media placement account for the premium womenswear brand as they embark on a wider digital brand transformation. AllTogetherNow, part of The&Partnership, was appointed by Karen Millen and tasked with rethinking how the fashion brand approaches its social activity, using innovative technologies to deepen consumer connections and grow positive brand affinity amongst its target audience. The retailer currently operates in 348 locations and 44 countries around the world, which includes around 100 stores and concessions in the UK. AllTogetherNow will begin creating social content and strategy immediately.
72andSunny/Redscout – General Mills US
After an exhaustive review process launched this summer and supported by Joanne Davis Consulting, General Mills has selected both 72andSunny and Redscout to act as its primary creative agencies in the US. The client will select agency partners for project-based work in a second, still-ongoing round of the same review. The combined MDC Partners pair beat out McCann New York, Deutsch, Mother New York and a Publicis unit headed by Fallon to win the business of a client that spent $700 million on paid media in the US last year. 72andSunny and Redscout will work together with GM’s media agency Mindshare, which was selected following a media review launched in May of 2015.
Wieden+Kennedy – Duracell
Duracell has appointed Wieden+Kennedy as its creative agency of record following a review. W+K will be tasked with developing integrated marketing promoting all Duracell brands, including digital, social, TV, experiential and design initiatives. Its first work for Duracell is expected some time in early 2017. W+K takes over for MDC Partners’ Anomaly, which won the account following a 2014 review. Anomaly’s recent work for the brand includes a Rogue One-themed holiday spot launched earlier this month, which follows a similar “Battle For Christmas Morning” effort released last year ahead of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Anomaly announced earlier this month that it was not participating in the review, which followed Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of Duracell from P&G.
Publicis UK – Heineken
Heineken has appointed Publicis UK to its global digital agency roster for its eponymous beer brand. Publicis UK, in partnership with Publicis Milan, has been added to the roster, alongside existing digital agency Tribal DDB Worldwide. Publicis Worldwide, led by the Milan office, is already the lead global creative agency for the brand, an account it picked up in September 2015, after the company split with Wieden & Kennedy. In particular, Publicis UK will work on Heineken’s digital campaigns for its new Formula 1 sponsorship and its UEFA Champions League sponsorship (which Tribal DDB previously created).
Isobel – R&R Ice Cream (Fab)
R&R Ice Cream, based in north Yorkshire, is Europe’s biggest ice cream maker and second in the world after Unilever. Next year it celebrates 50 years of the Fab ice lolly and it’s appointed independent UK agency Isobel to handle a £1 million campaign to celebrate. Isobel already works on R&R’s Kelly’s of Cornwall ice cream business. In May the agency produced what it calls the “First TV ad in Cornish” for Kelly’s. Fab was created by Nestle’s UK ice cream business Lyons Maid but that became part of R&R in one of a number of deals. R&R, owned by French firm PAI Partners, this year agreed a new deal with Nestle under the name “Froneri.”
Primesight – BT
Primesight has won the outdoor contract for BT's phone boxes from JCDecaux in a deal that will mean consumers get free wi-fi and calls from upgraded phone kiosks. Primesight has teamed up with Intersection, the digital company backed by Google owner Alphabet, that already manages a similar scheme in New York City, called LinkNYC, where outdoor ads fund the cost of free wi-fi and calls for consumers. The BT scheme will be called LinkUK and is a joint venture between Primesight and Intersection. It will launch in London with a view to being rolled out in other UK cities. Primesight did not reveal the value of the long-term deal. Industry observers suggested the current contract is worth in the region of £10m-£15m a year and Primesight could generate as much as four times that amount once it has installed at least 750 of the digital kiosks over the next few years. The sleek, ultramodern kiosks, called Links, will be only about a third of the size of existing phone boxes and feature two 55-inch digital advertising screens; one on each side of the kiosk. Consumers will also be able to charge their devices, access maps on a built-in tablet screen in the kiosk, and look up other local services online, at no cost to users or taxpayers. BT said the Links will have feature sensors that could also capture real-time information such as air and noise pollution and traffic conditions. The roll-out to major high streets in London will start in Camden late next year.
Top Image by Toby Stewart