Sonic Drive-In has put its creative account under review, according to four people close to the situation.

The account has been handled by Mother’s Los Angeles office since 2019. 

Also read: See the average cost of agency reviews

Joanne Davis Consulting, which didn’t respond to a request for comment, is believed to be handling the review. 

Sonic spent $293 million on U.S.-measured media in 2022, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics. That’s slightly up from the $278 million it spent in 2021.

Mother and Sonic didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The news comes a few months after Sonic President Claudia San Pedro stepped down from her position. Jim Taylor, who was president at Arby’s, moved into the role of president at Sonic. Rita Patel, who was Arby’s chief marketing officer, was named Arby’s brand president. Both Sonic and Arby's are owned by Inspire Brands.

With Mother’s help, Sonic made a shift away from the typical drive-in-focused ads of its past to make more of an emphasis on its menu items.

“We had kind of shied away from that in the past,” Sonic CMO Lori Abou Habib said on Ad Age’s Marketer’s Brief podcast last year, indicating the choice was due to healthy eating trends. But now, “there is also this macro trend toward mental health and trying to practice some self-care, getting what you want,” including small treats throughout the day, which “feels more relevant than ever,” she said.

Other Inspire Brands chains have made recent agency changes. Earlier this year Dunkin’ named Leo Burnett as its new creative agency and Buffalo Wild Wings named Anomaly as its new agency.