Driven Brands, the operator of auto service retailers including Maaco, Take 5 and Meineke Car Care Centers, has updated its agency roster. Dagger has been named creative agency of record for Take 5 Oil and Take 5 Car Wash, while also being named a roster agency for the rest of the Driven Brands portfolio.

Driven Brands also owns brands such as Auto Glass Now and Carstar. Its creative agency RFP process lasted around four months.

Other agencies that will now be on the roster include Tombras, a newcomer to the roster, and Mythic. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Mythic has worked on Driven Brands’ businesses including Maaco, Take 5 and Carstar in the past.

Independent agency Erich & Kallman had previously worked on Driven Brands, including work on Meineke, Take 5 and Auto Glass Now. Erich & Kallman declined to participate in the review, said Steve Erich, its co-founder and president. “We wish the marketing team at Driven Brands nothing but the best,” he said.

Driven Brands also worked with Publicis Groupe agency Moxie in the past. It’s unclear when that relationship concluded.

This is a significant win for Dagger—Driven Brands is now one of the agency’s top four clients. At the end of last year, Dagger picked up several accounts including Fiserv, The Georgia Aquarium and tiremaker Apollo Vredestein.

Mike DeTrana, VP of marketing at Take 5 Oil Change, said the reason for the RFP was to find a roster of agencies that could work across the Driven Brands portfolio. Given that Take 5 is one of the larger businesses within the portfolio, DeTrana said the brand led the RFP process.

Take 5, which is known for ads that use humor, was looking to keep certain aspects of its TV ads but wanted an agency that could execute a more full-funnel approach, DeTrana said.

“We were seeking on the Take 5 side someone that could bring the creativity and understand our brand in the way that our previous agency did, but could really pull that through across all the different media channels and properties as well as create more distinction for our brand in the marketplace.”

Erich & Kallman’s humor-driven work for the brand included its 2023 campaign that offered free car washes if a particular pigeon pooped on one’s car, which included billboards and other elements.

While adapting creative assets across different channels was a focus beforehand, it was “sub-optimal,” DeTrana said. “[Dagger is] developing full funnel executions so that we can put their materials wherever we want, rather than us having to go adapt, a separate piece from our agency internally.”

Dagger understood the brand’s need to be distinct in a competitive market and brought unique creative ideas, one of which will be their first work together, DeTrana said.

Take 5’s creative work from Dagger, set to launch around February, will continue to use humor, but DeTrana teased there will be a notable change.

“We think humor works, so we didn’t want to lose that,” DeTrana said. “You’ll continue to see that come through, but the way we do it will be somewhat different.”

Driven Brands’ advertising expenses exceeded $97 million in 2023, according to its annual filing. While it’s unclear how much each brand spends on advertising, Take 5 is likely in the lead. Take 5’s U.S. measured media totaled $30 million in 2023 and $23 million in the first three quarters of 2024, according to MediaRadar data, while Meineke spent $11 million on measured media in 2023 and $18 million in the first three quarters of 2024.