UK supermarket disrupter Aldi has decided to keep its creative account with McCann Manchester following a pitch involving M&C Saatchi, Mother, Havas and J. Walter Thompson.
Cue much gnashing of teeth in London’s advertising parlours – and relief at McCann.
Of all the supermarket accounts to come up recently Aldi was the big one; a growing brand with scope to increase its budget dramatically and also one with a history of audacious creative work.
The decision to stick with McCann mirrors that of the Co-op, also based in Manchester, which recently re-appointed Leo Burnett after a pitch.
McCann Manchester has produced a series of unusual ads for Aldi, most recently spoofs of John Lewis’ ‘Man on the Moon’ and Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla.’ Some might see this as brave, others that it’s running out of ideas. Money probably had something to do with it.
But none of the big London agencies with supermarket accounts have produced much in the way of originality recently, apart from Christmas numbers like AMV BBDO’s ‘Mog’ effort for Sainsbury’s last year. Even adam&eveDDB is struggling to say anything new about Waitrose. BBH is stuck up a creative aisle with Tesco.
So well done McCann Manchester. But it needs more than spoof ads to shoe horn Aldi into a bigger position in the competitive south.
