Petco taps Droga5 as new creative agency of record.
Petco has sent its creative account to Accenture Interactive-owned Droga5, according to people close to the matter.
The move marks the end of its relationship with MDC Partners' Anomaly, which was appointed agency of record for the San Diego-based pet retailer in December 2018.
"This parting is the correct plan for all concerned. We wish them well," Anomaly Founding Partner Carl Johnson said in a statement.
Spokespeople for Droga5 and Petco declined to comment.
This marks another win for Droga5. In April alone, the agency won Maserati's global creative business and Allstate's creative account, which had been handled by Leo Burnett for the prior 60-plus years.
In March, Anomaly lost the Panera Bread account it picked up in 2014, with the fast-casual chain instead hiring Goodby, Silverstein & Partners on a project basis. That same month, Anomaly laid off 22 employees, though it blamed the staff cuts on broader financial struggles brought on by the pandemic. Adweek reported that the shop won Coke's U.S. creative business from Wieden+Kennedy in August.
Anomaly's first work for Petco, which celebrated its new mission at the time to remove all artificial ingredients from its pet food, rolled out in March 2019. Anomaly was hired by Petco only three months after Tariq Hassan took over as the company's new chief marketing officer.
At the time of the shop's appointment, Petco was under rising pressure from startups that offer pet owners high-end services and organic food, like the Farmer's Dog, which delivers. It's also under increased threat from competitors like Amazon, which has its own pet food line. Delivery demand is only on the rise as consumers continue to shop online during the pandemic, leading Amazon's sales to soar 37% in its recent third quarter. Another rival, Chewy, which went public last year, added 1.6 million customers in the three months ending May 3, more than doubling its quarterly rate, Ad Age reported this summer as part of its America's Hottest Brands list.
According to COMvergence estimates, Petco spent $4 million on measured media in the U.S. in 2019.
