Ocado cut its marketing budget by 25% last year and now the retailer – which still has around £50m to play with – is looking at new agencies after four years with St Luke’s, whose work for the brand includes the “Inspired Choices” campaign below.
Havas won the online retailer’s media business last month after a final pitch against the incumbent, Omnicom’s Hearts & Science, and Dentsu’s iProspect. A new social media agency, Fabric Social, was also appointed earlier this month after another pitch.
The joint venture between Marks & Spencer and Ocado Group made a loss in the first six months of the year, but at only half the rate of 2023. And revenues in the last six months reached £1.54 billion thanks to a 21.8% jump in demand for its technology solutions business, which sells state-of-the-art retail software all over the world, including to big chains in the US.
Eilidh MacAskill, marketing director at Ocado Retail, said: “Having completed phase one of our marketing transformation, we are excited to explore options amongst potential creative agency partners. This isn’t a judgement on previous work nor on our incumbent, more a tangible example of our ambition for growth.”
The pitch is being handled by Flock Associates.
