Champs Sports has named Translation its new lead agency after a review, the companies said.
The shop will handle advertising and social media for the athletic footwear and apparel retailer, provide analysis of initiatives and ad spending, and establish a consistent look across in-store and digital channels, the agency said in a statement.
The account had most recently been handled by Los Angeles-based Zambezi, which picked up the account in 2010, but the agency and the company parted ways in the third quarter of last year. "We're proud of the work we did in collaboration with the Champs team -- including three consecutive years of sales lifts during our tenure," said Chris Raih, said Zambezi's founder and managing director.
Champs, which is owned by Foot Locker and has more than 550 stores in North America, is a small spender when it comes to measured media. Foot Locker spent just under $22 million on U.S. measured media in 2013, according to Kantar Media, about $6.5 million of which was for Champs Sports. In 2012, Foot Locker spent a total of $25.5 million, $8.2 million of which went to Champs.
Zambezi still works with Foot Locker's Eastbay, the sneaker e-retailer. Omnicom's BBDO handles the Foot Locker brand.
"From our position at the intersection of advertising and culture," Translation CEO Steve Stoute said in a statement, "we will work closely with Champs Sports across all platforms to design an integrated strategy that grows their brick and mortar business and amplifies their digital image among their most important target consumer groups."
Translation last month named former Toms Shoes CMO Nils Peyron its president and named John Norman, an agency veteran who most recently at TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles, as its new chief creative officer.
The agency picked up the Sprite account last September after the brand parted with Leo Burnett but lost the Bud Light account last year to Omnicom's BBDO, though the shop continues to handle line extensions for the brewer.
