For those holding their breath about the outcome of who’d win lead creative duties for BMW of North America next, the wait is over: the account has been awarded to New York-based shop Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners
The shop succeeds Omnicom Group’s GSD&M in Austin, which handled the account until late last year.
The MDC Partners-owned shop beat out four contenders in the final leg of the pitch: Toronto-based Cundari, Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Martin Agency and Gotham, and WPP’s Grey. The latter pitched only the dealer portion of the business due to WPP’s exclusive agreement with automaker Ford.
Aldo Cundari expressed to Marketing in June that he was confident about his agency’s knowledge of the BMW brand.
Per the contract terms of KBS&P’s win, KBS&P will hang on to the account — which according to Kantar is worth an estimated $160 million — for a minimum of three years. The pitch didn’t affect BMW’s media agency of record, Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Universal McCann.
Dan Creed, VP marketing for the carmaker, said in a statement that KBS&P was the clear winner, after a process that began in March and ended this week with pitches at the company’s offices in New Jersey. “Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners hit a home run and left no doubt in our minds that they are the clear choice for the lead creative agency selection,” said Creed. “KBS&P’s successful pitch energized our team, demonstrating a strong platform of impressive brand insight, and memorable creative execution.”
“Throughout this process, KBS&P proved they not only understood the BMW brand, but the retail business as well,” added Donna Gebers, BMW dealer-marketing forum chairperson. “The dealer body was happy to be a part of the selection process and is very much looking forward to working with KBS&P.”
It helps that the dealers have had some time to get to know KBS&P, since it was already handling customer-relationship marketing and digital marketing for BMW through its Dotglu arm.
For KBS&P, winning full-scale creative duties for BMW’s stateside operations marks the biggest account the shop has netted since Lori Senecal took over as president CEO in 2009.
To read the full story in Advertising Age, click here.
