In another rather unusual twist, General Mills is requiring that
participating agencies are staffed with at least 50% women and 20%
people of color within the creative department.
In an interview with Ad Age, General Mills Chief Marketing
Officer Ann Simonds, who is running the review with Chief Creative
Officer Michael Fanuele, described the review as part of a
"reengineering, a reassessment of our company and our marketing in
particular," following the company's adoption of a purpose
statement in June 2015 to "serve the world by making food people
love."
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The food marketer last year consolidated its media with
Mindshare and Ms. Simonds said the current review is intended to
insure that "our creative excellence is as robust, modern and
relevant" as it can be.
The goal is "one core agency to handle the bulk [of the work]
but to supplement with other partners, which might be technology
platforms or media partners," said Mr. Fanuele, or "an anchor
agency supplemented with a roster of interesting partners."
Ms. Simonds said the review was prompted by a desire on General
Mills' part to zero-base its thinking on marketing. "In any
relationship, there is an opportunity to rejigger and represent who
we are and how we work some of our incumbents moving forward, but
going forward with a commitment to reinventing the relationship as
we are [doing]," she said. Ms. Simonds said that over time "a
laziness can happen" in which companies and agencies can
"incrementalize the small decisions" or do the same thing every
quarter as opposed to making material differences in marketing.
"Over time, things just get bolted in," she said.
"I do not find joy in change for change's sake," noted Ms.
Simonds.
When asked whether General Mills was concerned that there may be
some complacency on the part of its agencies, Ms. Simonds said, "I
would never describe our partners as complacent. But you don't know
what you don't know and that goes for us and our partners. This is
a flashpoint in the history of General Mills to start over
again."
Ms. Simonds and Mr. Fanuele met with the shops in contention for
what it called a "creative salon," a 90-minute meeting which was
part chemistry check. The finalists, informed this week, are taking
different approaches to the process. When asked why Publicis is offering a holding company
solution and McCann is not pitching as IPG, Mr. Fanuele said that
could still happen. "The clay is still wet on the proposal," he
said.