Sam's Club Chooses New Creative Agency
BENTONVILLE, Ala. -- Warehouse retailer Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, has chosen New York-based StrawberryFrog to handle advertising creative for the warehouse chain after a review that lasted about two months.
"We selected StrawberryFrog because they offered the greatest strategic insight, game-changing creativity and vision for the future of Sam's Club," said Mark Goodman, e.v.p. of marketing, membership, and e-commerce at Sam's Club. "We are excited about adding StrawberryFrog to our team and we believe they will help us enhance our position and deepen our relevancy with our members."
StrawberryFrog will develop both internal and external communications for the chain. "We plan to take the third-largest retailer and give them a spark of cultural movement," said Scott Goodson, c.e.o. and chief creative officer of StrawberryFrog.
The account was previously handled by Omnicom Group's GSD&M in Austin, Texas, which was not invited to defend. Other review contenders were not disclosed.
Wal-Mart spent more than $15 million to advertise Sam's Club last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. It spent $3 million in measured media during the first six months of 2006.
Separately, Wal-Mart is also in the process of reviewing the $570 million ad account of its flagship retail brand. Last week, the retail giant cut the number of contenders to five.
In the hunt are two Interpublic Group agencies, Draft FCB Group in Chicago and The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., incumbent GSD&M, Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi in New York and WPP's Ogilvy & Mather, also in New York. (Another incumbent, Bernstein-Rein, an independent in Kansas City, Mo., is out of contention. The shop had worked with Wal-Mart for more than 30 years.)
Those agencies will be briefed in late August, with final presentations expected in early October, according to sources. Select Resources International in Santa Monica, Calif., is managing the review.
-- Eleftheria Parpis, Adweek, a VNU Publication
"We selected StrawberryFrog because they offered the greatest strategic insight, game-changing creativity and vision for the future of Sam's Club," said Mark Goodman, e.v.p. of marketing, membership, and e-commerce at Sam's Club. "We are excited about adding StrawberryFrog to our team and we believe they will help us enhance our position and deepen our relevancy with our members."
StrawberryFrog will develop both internal and external communications for the chain. "We plan to take the third-largest retailer and give them a spark of cultural movement," said Scott Goodson, c.e.o. and chief creative officer of StrawberryFrog.
The account was previously handled by Omnicom Group's GSD&M in Austin, Texas, which was not invited to defend. Other review contenders were not disclosed.
Wal-Mart spent more than $15 million to advertise Sam's Club last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. It spent $3 million in measured media during the first six months of 2006.
Separately, Wal-Mart is also in the process of reviewing the $570 million ad account of its flagship retail brand. Last week, the retail giant cut the number of contenders to five.
In the hunt are two Interpublic Group agencies, Draft FCB Group in Chicago and The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., incumbent GSD&M, Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi in New York and WPP's Ogilvy & Mather, also in New York. (Another incumbent, Bernstein-Rein, an independent in Kansas City, Mo., is out of contention. The shop had worked with Wal-Mart for more than 30 years.)
Those agencies will be briefed in late August, with final presentations expected in early October, according to sources. Select Resources International in Santa Monica, Calif., is managing the review.
-- Eleftheria Parpis, Adweek, a VNU Publication