They say it’s rarely worthwhile repitching for a piece of business but Interpublic-owned DLKW Lowe will be thankful that it did – as well as breathing a huge sigh of relief – with the news that it’s been reappointed by UK supermarket chain Morrisons, which spends about £70m.
Lowe really couldn’t afford to lose this one (it lost its other big UK account Halifax to Adam&Eve/DDB a while back).
Not only that but the agency beat off a formidable range of UK talent according to Campaign, with a final shoot-out between it, M&C Saatchi and nemesis A&E/DDB with WCRS, JWT and CHI involved earlier in the process.
The agency recently reeled in chirpy ITV celebs Ant & Dec to front its ads after the review was announced, not the most original of strategies but it seems to have worked with clearly star-struck Morrisons.
Group marketing and customer director Nick Collard says: “DLKW Lowe’s advertising campaign with Ant & Dec has demonstrated why Morrisons is different and has been hugely successful.”
Meanwhile WPP, which owns JWT and 49 per cent of CHI, must be wondering when it’s going to get its mitts on a big UK retailer. JWT also recently pitched for Tesco.
IPG, on the other hand, will be happy. The last thing it wanted was to be forced into more reconstructive surgery at Lowe, which is crucial to its global Unilever business. And IPG-owned DraftFCB also triumphed in a repitch this week for the big Kmart account in the US.
So don’t tell IPG boss Michael Roth that repitches are a waste of time and money.
