SC Johnson is shifting its global creative account to WPP following a pitch that was led by Ogilvy and VMLY&R Commerce, according to four people familiar with the matter. The account was previously split between WPP's Ogilvy and Omnicom's Energy BBDO.
Agency News
SC Johnson consolidates its global creative account at WPP following review
Ogilvy and VMLY&R Commerce led WPP's pitch for the consumer products behemoth's business
Gift Article
Gift Article
10 Remaining
As a subscriber, you have 10 articles to gift each month. Gifting allows recipients to access the article for free.
Credit:
Bloomberg
WPP did not respond to a request for comment. Ogilvy, VMLY&R and Energy BBDO declined to comment.
SC Johnson, maker of consumer products including Drano, Glade, Pledge, Scrubbing Bubbles and Windex, through a spokesman said that it does not comment on the status or scope of its business partnerships.
While the privately owned company doesn’t disclose ad spending, Ad Age Datacenter estimates SC Johnson's worldwide spending in the range of $1 billion.
The review is said to have been led by Chicago-based search consultant JLB & Partners.
SC Johnson in 2014 split its account between Ogilvy and BBDO following a historic 50-year run with Interpublic Group of Cos.' FCB (then DraftFCB).
Good news for Ogilvy
The win is significant for WPP, and particularly for Ogilvy, which has been steadily beefing up its management team, cranking up its new business machine and burnishing its creative credentials. In May, the agency picked up the Audi of America account from Venables Bell & Partners, giving it a coveted luxury car account. In June, Ogilvy was named Agency Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions.
In October 2021, the agency brought on Chris Beresford-Hill, former chief creative officer of Omnicom’s TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, as its president of advertising for North America. He joined Devika Bulchandani, Ogilvy's global president and North American CEO, and Global Chief Creative Officer Liz Taylor, both of whom stepped into their posts that same year. In July of this year, Menno Kluin was brought on as chief creative officer of Ogilvy New York's flagship creative office.
VMLY&R builds bench
VMLY&R, known for its digital and ecommerce capabilities, has also been building its bench of late. In August, the agency elevated Rafael Pitanguy from chief creative officer of the agency’s Sao Paulo office to the newly created role of deputy global chief creative officer, reporting to Global Chief Creative Officer Debbi Vandeven.
The agency last month named Andrea (Ring) Grodberg as its first global chief strategy officer since WPP merged VML and Y&R in 2018. Grodberg, who reports to VMLY&R Global CEO Jon Cook, had previously been chief strategy officer at BBDO.
Contributing: Jack Neff
