Safeway Looks at Four Ad Shops for $250 Million Account
PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway yesterday named four finalists in the review of its $250 million North American broadcast and promotions account.
Still in the hunt are: WPP Group's Young & Rubicam and Havas' Euro RSCG, both in New York, and Omnicom Group shops Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco and DDB in Chicago, per Pile and Co., the consulting firm overseeing the process.
Interpublic Group agencies McCann Erickson in New York and Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich., were cut from contention.
The business in play includes broadcast creative, strategic planning, broadcast media planning and buying, as well as promotional marketing.
The IPG-owned incumbent, Dailey & Associates in West Hollywood, Calif., which has handled both creative and media for Safeway, is not defending.
The shop's most recent work for the Pleasanton, Calif., supermarket chain was themed "Ingredients for life" and debuted in April 2005, running through year's end. It was designed to complement Safeway's overall "lifestyle" reinvention, which also included physical changes at some stores such as wood floors and upgraded fixtures and softer lighting.
"We have had a successful partnership with Dailey over many years," said Michael Minasi, s.v.p. of marketing at Safeway, in a statement, when the account went into play. "As Safeway continues to refine and evolve its consumer communications, we are focused and committed to partnering with an agency that will help us achieve our strategies and continue to build our brand."
Safeway operates more than 1,770 stores in the United States and Canada and had sales of $38.5 billion in 2005.
-- David Gianatasio, Adweek (a sister VNU publication)
Still in the hunt are: WPP Group's Young & Rubicam and Havas' Euro RSCG, both in New York, and Omnicom Group shops Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco and DDB in Chicago, per Pile and Co., the consulting firm overseeing the process.
Interpublic Group agencies McCann Erickson in New York and Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich., were cut from contention.
The business in play includes broadcast creative, strategic planning, broadcast media planning and buying, as well as promotional marketing.
The IPG-owned incumbent, Dailey & Associates in West Hollywood, Calif., which has handled both creative and media for Safeway, is not defending.
The shop's most recent work for the Pleasanton, Calif., supermarket chain was themed "Ingredients for life" and debuted in April 2005, running through year's end. It was designed to complement Safeway's overall "lifestyle" reinvention, which also included physical changes at some stores such as wood floors and upgraded fixtures and softer lighting.
"We have had a successful partnership with Dailey over many years," said Michael Minasi, s.v.p. of marketing at Safeway, in a statement, when the account went into play. "As Safeway continues to refine and evolve its consumer communications, we are focused and committed to partnering with an agency that will help us achieve our strategies and continue to build our brand."
Safeway operates more than 1,770 stores in the United States and Canada and had sales of $38.5 billion in 2005.
-- David Gianatasio, Adweek (a sister VNU publication)