After two years with the brand, Cramer-Krasselt has ended its relationship with Panera Bread. Cramer-Krasselt Chairman-CEO Peter Krivkovich announced that the agency would be resigning Panera Bread in an internal memo this morning, AdAge reports.
The memo painted a portrait of a truly dysfunctional relationship between the brand and their lead agency that can be summed up with the phrase “enough is enough.” In it, Krivkovich says “…the constant last-minute shifts in direction, the behind-the-scenes politics, the enormous level of subjectivity that disregards proof of performance — all churn people at a rate that becomes much too much even in this crazy business. The previous agency found that out as well. There is a pattern. And in the end, no amount of money makes it worthwhile.”
Cramer-Kraselt became lead agency on Panera Bread in May 2012, following a review. It had previously been held by Interpublic agency Mullen, which split with Panera citing their own “creative differences.” While it’s not known if a review will result from the resignation, AdAge speculates that “it’s likely one will.” Stick around for a more complete excerpt from the memo following the jump.
“There comes a time when no matter what the acclaim for the work, no matter what that visibility, no matter how good of a relationship we have with the marketing department, no matter what the test scores and results that contributed to reversing falling comps before the campaign and that outpaced previous work and became great case histories — despite all that: the constant last-minute shifts in direction, the behind-the-scenes politics, the enormous level of subjectivity that disregards proof of performance — all churn people at a rate that becomes much too much even in this crazy business. The previous agency found that out as well. There is a pattern. And in the end, no amount of money makes it worthwhile. Fortunately, we have always been in a position to act in situations like these if we really, really have to.”
“That said, Panera Bread is a wonderful brand. They truly deliver on their food sourcing and quality promise… We truly wish Panera Bread well. We will help them in any transition in any way we can. And many of us will continue to eat there. Because it’s that good. But enough is enough.”