MillerCoors has shuffled the deck on its agencies, and is stepping away from longtime partner DraftFCB in the U.S. However, the Interpublic-owned agency appears to have kept the account in Canada.
“Today’s MillerCoors announcement does not change the current scope for DraftFCB in Canada,” said Peter Nowlan, chief commercial officer at Molson Coors Canada.
“Our agency roster line-up is unique to Canada. Draft has been a longstanding partner, and their contributions have helped make Coors Light the number one beer in Canada. Their recent work alongside our marketing team has included the launch of Coors Light Iced T, and the introduction of our NHL Stanley Cup Collection retail program which has been a driving force for our brands on Facebook.”
As part of the shift, Publicis Groupe’s Razorfish has lost creative duties. Digital and creative for Coors brands will now move to a new multi-agency group at WPP. For the Miller Lite brand, the brewer has picked Saatchi & Saatchi as lead creative shop, after giving the shop a tryout in January.
“Winning in premium lights [beer] is the centerpiece of our long-term business stragegy and we’ve determined that some agency changes will give us the best chance to do exactly that,” MillerCoors exec-VP and chief marketing officer Andy England told Ad Age today. “What we are looking for is sustainable above-the-line excellence with an integrated solution,” including traditional and digital marketing.
The new WPP team will be housed in Chicago (where MillerCoors is headquartered) and draw on talent from JWT, Ogilvy, Y&R and Grey, as well as digital shops. WPP declined to comment.
England said he was impressed by the “depth of creative talent and beer experience” of the group. “It is deep and it is wide. We’ll have access to an enormous bench of creative talent.”
As part of the shift, the brewer is moving digital planning and buying on Coors brands to Interpublic Group Of Cos.’ Initiative, which will also pick up traditional media planning for all brands. The shop was already doing traditional media buying.
The decision is a major blow for Interpublic Group of Cos.’ DraftFCB Chicago, which is still working to regain its footing after losing the global SC Johnson account, a relationship that dates back 58-plus years and was one of the agency’s largest accounts. The agency has had Miller Lite since 2009, and its roots on the Coors brand dates back to 1979, when predecessor Foote, Cone, Bleding worked on the brand.
DraftFCB began losing its grip on Lite in January when the brand brought in Saatchi & Saatchi, New York – already a roster agency – to assist on the “Miller Time” campaign that debuted in late March, which is aimed at lifting the nation’s fourth-largest beer from a long-running slump. The loss of Coors Banquet and Coors Light is an especially tough loss for the agency. Each brand has been growing lately. Coors Light passed Budwieser last year as the nation’s second-largest beer thanks in part to its long-running cold-refreshment messaging.
“We are obviously very disappointed by this decision, but have no choice but to accept it,” DraftFCB said in a statement. “We are extremely proud of the work we have produced for MillerCoors over the course of our relationship, and we wish the client continued success going forward.
“We’re especially pleased to have helped Coors Light surpass Budweiser as the country’s #2 beer earlier this year, and we look forward to continuing our assignments with MolsonCoors in Canada, and with Coors in China and Puerto Rico,” the company said.
England said he was “very grateful to DraftFCB for its decades of work on helping to build Coors Light and Coors Banquet into the vibrant and groing brands that we have today.” But he added that “you don’t continue growing by staying put.” ~ Contributing: Maureen Morrison
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