One of David Jones’ better Brandtech Group deals seems to be in-housing studio Oliver. Oliver already works for the likes of Unilever and now it’s signed up Boots with a new Boots Nottingham studio in its home town (below.)
Which means that Jones and Oliver CEO Sharon Whale have parked their tanks firmly on WPP’s lawn. Boots already works with WPP construct The Pharm which includes VMLY&R, Ogilvy, Hogarth, Mediacom and B-Hive, described as Boots’ internal studio, presumably fuelled by WPP production arm Hogarth.
Boots’ newish CMO Pete Markey has worked with Oliver before at TSB and the Post Office. He says: “I like the setup we’ve got. It gives us the best of everything. We have The Pharm delivering amazing strategic thought with big ideas, like our Christmas campaign. Then we have Oliver alongside us to help interpret that, but also do their own work as we deliver campaign activity.”
PS Not such good news for Jones and former adland colleague Kate Robertson is the fire currently being aimed at One Young World, the charity Jones helped to found and which Robertson runs with her daughter. It’s being investigated for paying the duo around £2m over the last five years.
