How does an agency that doesn’t technically exist yet get agency-of-record status with a major national advertiser? It helps if its holding company is doing good work in other markets.
Red Urban, an Omnicom-owned interactive agency, was named AOR for Volkswagen on Tuesday a full two-months ahead of the shop’s official launch. It will work alongside Montreal’s Palm+Havas.
Officially, Red Urban’s Canadian operation has only employee–president Peter Housley–who never negotiated with the client.
But Volkswagen wanted an Omnicom shop on its roster, so Bruce Rosen, the automaker’s Canadian director of marketing and communications, went straight to the top.
“We looked at the opportunities to gain potential synergies on a global basis in going with an Omnicom group company,” Rosen said. He dealt directly with senior Omnicom executives on finding a partner within its Canadian operations.
Rosen would not specify who at Omnicom he negotiated with, and requests for comment from a senior executive were declined.
In Europe, where Rosen sees many similarities to the Canadian market, Volkswagen works with several Omnicom agencies. DDB Stockholm and TribalDDB have seen significant viral success with “Piano Stairs,” an online video in The Fun Factory campaign. It currently tops Advertising Age’s viral marketing charts with nearly 2.2 million views the week of Oct. 26.
However, the holding company’s three main Canadian operations, DDB, TBWA and BBDO, have client conflicts with Subaru, Nissan and Chrysler, respectively.
“When we looked at the mission statement of Red Urban, even though they weren’t here yet, their mission was very much along the lines of our Volkswagen philosophy,” Rosen said. “They work to be cutting edge, a little off the beaten path, highly digital. They set very high standards. All of those things matched our needs.”
Moreover, the agency is primarily an interactive shop. Rosen said it is too early to say what the media strategy will be going forward, but the company has been relying on digital marketing more and more.
“We’ve moved a good portion of our media spend and activities to the online community,” he said. “Does this move mean we’ll shift more? I suspect that will be part of our early conversations.”
Red Urban will handle all national brand communications, and will staff itself accordingly, said Housley. Palm+Havas is slated to manage CRM, tactical marketing and sponsorship opportunities. Their partnership becomes official Jan. 1.
