Stop & Shop has named Cincinnati-based Curiosity as its creative agency of record following a three-month review handled by Mercer Island Group. 

Stop & Stop is “always working” to be fiscally responsible with its budget and was looking for the “right size partner” in its review, said Lisa Martinelli, VP, marketing and brand experience. Curiosity, Martinelli said, is a “scrappy, nimble” agency that has the capabilities not only to solve marketing challenges, but also business issues. 

“We feel they’re the right people to take our work to a breakthrough level,” she added.

McKinney formerly handled the account beginning in 2021 and created the company’s “Feed The Moment” brand platform, which centers on the idea that grocery shopping reflects the meaningful moments of the customers’ lives. McKinney said it did not attempt to defend the account and deferred to Stop & Shop for comment. 

Curiosity will focus on building the company’s brand platform, as well as managing strategic planning and creative campaigns. The agency’s first integrated campaign for Stop & Shop is slated to debut in 2025.

Stop & Shop spent $24 million on U.S. measured media last year, down roughly 11% from 2022, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics. The supermarket chain—owned by Dutch food retail group Ahold Delhaize—operates nearly 400 stores across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

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Sticking out from the crowd

Stop & Shop has a strong foundation in the Northeast, but faces fierce competition in the region from Shoprite and nationally from juggernauts such as Walmart and Target, which are leaning further into the grocery space, according to Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of the consultant Strategic Resource Group.

“It’s the perfect time [for Stop & Shop] to capitalize against competitors and accelerate [its] market share leadership with consumers that much more,” said Flickinger. 

Stop & Shop aims to enhance its brand positioning by hiring Curiosity, said Martinelli, acknowledging the vast amount of options grocery shoppers now have.

“I think all retailers are feeling it, and we definitely are feeling it pretty strongly in our market,” she said. 

Stop & Shop works with Havas Media and AMP for its media business, Martinelli said. 

For Curiosity, the win represents a return to the grocery sector. The agency spent nearly two years as creative AOR for FreshDirect before it was acquired by Getir last December, creating a range of spots for the online grocery delivery company’s “Food That Delivers You” platform. (FreshDirect was formerly owned by Stop & Shop parent company Ahold Delhaize.)

“Grocery is one of very few categories consumers experience every single week, oftentimes multiple times a week,” said Ashley Walters, partner and chief marketing officer at Curiosity, in a statement. “That along with the fact that there are now multiple ways to shop and dozens of competitors from traditional grocery to food delivery, makes this an exciting creative challenge we are ready to solve.” 

Stop & Shop is another significant win for Curiosity—a standout on Ad Age’s 2024 Agency A-list—which picked up AOR assignments for Bridges Consumer Healthcare and feminine hygiene brand pH-D in January and March, respectively.