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Clients are a peculiar lot; first they manage perfectly well without an agency then they appoint one of the best around, fall out and then hire a couple more when surely one would do.
Well they don’t all, of course, but chicken chain Nando’s has.
Last year it appointed Wieden+Kennedy London, which produced some lively work on what looked like a miniscule budget, then moved the UK account, now said to be worth £2m, to 18 Feet & Rising, a lively UK newcomer, best known for its Nationwide work.
Now it’s added another newcomer agency, 101, which has still to make its mark, to a ‘global brand consultancy brief.’
This, apparently, is to make sure Nando’s material is the same all over the place as it tries to expand around the world. Clients are crazy about this, of course, although customers don’t give a stuff.
Nando’s marketing director Paul Appleton opines, with all due modesty: “Ours is an exceptionally charismatic brand, held dearly in its key markets. 101 are helping us to create a common brand definition for our colleagues and partners everywhere to draw inspiration from.”
If the world’s so keen on it, why does it need another agency?
101, a breakaway from Fallon UK, boasts former Cadbury marketing director Phil Rumbol among its founders. and Phil, the client behind Fallon’s celebrated ‘Gorilla’ ad knows a thing or two about marketing and, indeed, advertising,
But I can’t believe he would have taken the Nando’s route at his former employer. Or come up with such a sublimely daft explanation if he had.
