Horizon Next gains back weight-loss client with Jenny Craig win

Horizon Next is putting Horizon Media back in the weight-loss category by picking up a key part of the Jenny Craig account, only a few months after the agency lost WW International’s North American media business. The performance marketing arm of Horizon Media was awarded TV media agency of record duties for the weight loss, weight management and nutrition company following a recent review. The account will be led out of Horizon Next’s New York office. According to the companies, Jenny Craig tapped Horizon Next to “help them accelerate growth and grab market share” in the uncertain environment. The agency takes the business from Generator Media + Analytics. “We felt it was time for a fresh perspective and to partner with an agency that could help accelerate and elevate our analytics and marketing measurement capabilities to understand the impact of TV in our media spend,” Jenny Craig CEO David Pastrana said, explaining the decision to switch up agencies. Pastrana said Jenny Craig kicked off the review in June, with the goal of finding "a performance-focused partner that could help us strategically improve our media efficiency and at the same time drive growth." The same month the Jenny Craig review kicked off, WW International awarded "key pieces” of its North American business, including planning and buying responsibilities in the U.S. and Canada, to an integrated WPP team led by Mindshare. One person close to that review told Ad Age that Horizon Media, which had previously handled WW's North American account since 2010, declined to pitch to defend. According to COMvergence estimates, Jenny Craig spent $32 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, and $17 million between July 2019 and June of this year. Since the pandemic, Pastrana said Jenny Craig has had to adapt its media strategy, expanding the way it engages with customers. He said since the lockdown in March, the brand began offering new “affordable online food plan options, free delivery and personal coaching by phone.” He said the company has been listening more to customer feedback and, as a result, "shifted to a greater mix of digital media and communications which has enabled us to reach a broader set of consumers and achieve our aggressive growth targets, while being efficient with our marketing spend." "We are now leveraging these learnings for our fall campaign which includes a comprehensive media strategy across TV and digital, and we plan to build upon this for our upcoming innovation launch early next year," Pastrana added. The win also follows CBS moving its media planning and buying business to Horizon Media from OMD, Ad Age learned in June. People close to that matter said the shift marked a consolidation of all CBS and Viacom brands (ViacomCBS) with Horizon Media, following last year's merger of the two companies.

Horizon Next gains back weight-loss client with Jenny Craig win

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