Perdue Foods has named Colle McVoy as its creative agency of record following a review that began in September. The chicken marketer’s last creative AOR was the Via Agency, which held the account for more than a decade but did not participate in this creative pitch. 

“We were proud to have Perdue as a partner for 11 years,” Via Agency, based in Portland, Maine, said in a statement. “We are proud of the work we did together and we wish them well in the future.” 

Minneapolis-based Colle McVoy will now handle creative strategy for all Perdue Foods Consumer business including the Perdue, Perdue Harvestland and Perdue Simply Smart brands. The agency has a history of working with food and agricultural clients, including Land O’Lakes, Vermont Creamery and Schwan’s Home Delivery.

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David Zucker, chief marketing officer and senior VP of e-commerce at Perdue, has been in the role for over two years and said that often companies review agencies every three to four years. 

“This was more of a process change with me in the driver's seat with the marketing effort,” he said. “Talent changes, needs change within the business capabilities, new agencies come up and it's just a good process to keep me and my marketing team on our toes as well as just continuing to connect with additional people that are in the field.” 

Privately held Perdue declined to discuss its sales, but according to trade publication The National Provisioner, Perdue was the eighth largest meat and poultry processor in the U.S. in 2021, with sales of $7.1 billion. 

Perdue, which is based in Salisbury, Maryland, is the leading fresh chicken brand in the country and the No. 1 producer of USDA organic chicken, according to Zucker. It ranks second for branded protein, with Tyson chicken in first. Tyson also leads the frozen/ready-to-eat space.

Reclaiming its position

Jessica Henrichs, Colle McVoy president, said the poultry category has become more competitive and confusing for consumers over the years. “Perdue was the first brand to talk about no antibiotics ever. And now there are so many different claims at the [grocery] case that consumers have a really hard time differentiating what is the gold standard. What does it mean to be natural, organic, free-range, antibiotic-free, no antibiotics ever? It’s just noise.”

Perdue, she said, “needs to set out once again to reclaim their position as the best chicken in the world.”

“We’ll think about how we show up in the [food] case and how we set the brand apart in that environment and I think you’ll see a lot more in social media,” Henrichs said.

The agency found the brand's target audience is women between the ages of 25 and 55 and that demographic is 148% more likely to gather their information about chicken through social media than the average consumer, Henrichs said. Because of this, there is a big opportunity for Perdue in places like TikTok or Instagram, she said, noting, “We want to make sure that we’re showing up where our consumer is.”

But TV will remain an important advertising channel, Zucker said. TV “has been and always will be a significant part of our communication," Zucker said. "It's just a very efficient way to communicate our message.”

Perdue spent $24.6 million on U.S. measured media in 2021, up from $19.8 million in 2020, a 23.9% increase, according to Kantar. Its media agencies include TradeX Partners, which buys broadcast and display, and Marriner Marketing, which buys paid social. RMV Co. “owns the paid strategy budget,” the company said.

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Family ties

The Perdue family has been a mainstay in the company’s ads and has been doing commercials for the brand for more than seven years. Both Zucker and Henrichs said to expect Jim Perdue and his two sons Chris and Ryan to remain in the marketer’s new campaigns.

Colle McVoy’s first campaign for Perdue will launch in May. 

Perdue is the latest win for Stagwell's Colle McVoy, which saw an 88% win rate in 2021. During that period, it landed Northern Tool + Equipment, Blu Dot, and Whirlpool according to Henrichs.