It had to happen: adam&eve/DDB has won Waitrose, just as it’s won seemingly every other big account up for review in London over the past couple of years. Adam&eve also handle’s Waitrose big brother John Lewis.
The news will disappoint newbie agency Lucky Generals in particular, some of whose founders worked on Waitrose at MCBD, now absorbed into Dare. Waitrose became loose when its agency BBH chose to take on Dave Lewis’ Tesco instead and resigned the account, which won’t have gone down well at all with Waitrose boss Mark Price. There won’t be any such nonsense at adam&eve, now that the two linked substantial accounts are calling it home.
Adam&eve didn’t expect to be on the Waitrose pitch list because Price was reportedly not keen to share an agency with John Lewis. But when the call came there was an inevitability about its eventual home, despite the strong credentials of Lucky Generals. But Price has experienced the vicissitudes of small agency life from a client’s point of view at MCBD and then Now (where it was briefly headed before going to BBH) and may see the all-conquering adam&eve as a safer bet.
It will be interesting to see the destination of senior creative Ken Hoggins, who worked on Waitrose at Hoggins O’Shea and, latterly, at BBH. Hoggins apparently sat in on the Waitrose agency pitches.
Some agencies would throw a hissy fit if such a person now turned up in the wake of an account win. But Hoggins is as agreeable as he is talented and adam&eve CEO James Murphy would probably take a relaxed view.
