Sonic Drive-In has retained Mother as its creative agency of record following a review first reported in July.
Agency News
Sonic retains Mother as lead creative agency
Chain recently named a new chief marketing officer
Sonic spent $301 million on U.S.-measured media in 2022 and $138 million in the first half of 2023, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics.
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Sonic
Spokespeople for Sonic and Mother confirmed the retention. Mother first started working on the account in 2019. FCB was one of the finalists in the review, according to multiple people close to the situation. FCB declined to comment for this story.
Joanne Davis Consulting is believed to have handled the review, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. The consultancy did not respond to requests for comment.
Inspire Brands-owned Sonic spent $301 million on U.S.-measured media in 2022 and $138 million in the first half of 2023, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics.
Mother, which hired Oriel Davis-Lyons as its New York chief creative officer in 2022, has had a few key wins this year. The shop recently picked up lead creative duties for Dow Jones following a review that began in March. In August, Mother was named lead creative agency for Orangetheory Fitness. In April, Jägermeister appointed Mother its first global creative agency of record.
Sonic recently appointed a new chief marketing officer. Ryan Dickerson was promoted to the role in late October after previously serving as VP, digital retail and e-commerce, in Inspire Brands’ commercial group. In that role, Dickerson focused on growing digital sales across all of Inspire’s Brands, which include Dunkin’, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy Johns and Baskin-Robbins. He replaced Lori Abou Habib, who left to join The Joint Chiropractic in August.
Under Habib, the chain’s advertising emphasized the “crave-ability” of its menu with ads that continued to move away from Sonic’s longtime emphasis on its drive-thru.
