Goodby Wins Liberty Mutual's Creative Account

Liberty Mutual has selected Goodby Silverstein & Partners as its new creative agency, ending its relationship with Havas Worldwide. Goodby won the business following a competitive review. Representatives from Havas, which began working with Liberty Mutual in December 2013, were not immediately available for comment. "We are very excited to work with the talented team at Goodby Silverstein & Partners agency," said Emily Fink, chief marketing officer at Boston-based Liberty Mutual. "They bring proven experience in growing national brands and accomplished creative leadership, as well as strong strategic thinking and analytic capabilities to the table -- all of which will drive our brand and business to the next level." The win comes one month after Goodby picked up Pepsi creative work. While Pepsi declined to comment on the scope of the assignment, people familiar with the pitch said it was lead U.S. agency status. "Insurance is the new beer -- it's a category full of great creative work and big budgets. We're really excited to enter the fray on behalf of Liberty Mutual," said GS&P Managing Partner Brian McPherson. "They are smart, driven and really collaborative as client partners, and we believe we'll do some famous work they will benefit from." It's been four years since Liberty Mutual made an agency shift. The Boston-based insurer, which spent $337.1 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media, worked with Havas in developing the company's most recent tagline, "Liberty Stands With You," last year, a campaign supplemented by a series of spots illustrating real-life insurance scenarios. A Liberty Mutual spokeswoman did not say when new work will begin. After hurricanes Harvey and Irma and the California wildfires, it's been a year of catastrophes for insurers, who are scrambling to fulfill claims across the country and hone their customer experience skills to a digital level. According to Ellen Carney, principal analyst at Forrester, the top reason for consumers to switch insurance brands is a poor claims experience. For Havas, the account loss follows a run of executive departures since the beginning of the year and the departure of its Dos Equis account. In January, Andrew Benett stepped down from his role as global CEO of Havas Creative Group and Havas Worldwide. That was followed by the departures of New York-based global Chief Marketing Officer Matt Weiss; Global Chief Content Officer Vin Farrell; and Toygar Bazarkaya, who until mid-April was chief creative officer of the Americas and chairman of the Global Creative Council for Havas Worldwide. The shop, however, won lead creative and media duties for Con Edison this summer, and recently acquired social media and digital shop The 88, bringing on Harry Bernstein, founder and chief creative officer, as chief creative officer of the New York office.

Goodby Wins Liberty Mutual's Creative Account

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