By now, you’re probably all well-aware of Volvo’s decision to hand its global creative duties to Grey London (and global digital biz to R/GA), a move which in turn resulted in the end of a six-and-a-half year relationship between the automaker and Arnold. While the latter agency wasn’t officially commenting on Volvo’s decision yesterday, we did happen to obtain the memo that Arnold global chief exec Robert LePlae sent to staff around 2pm EST yesterday following the move. Figured it’s worth getting a little perspective from Arnold’s end. Read on.
“All,
AdvertisementAs you might have read today, AdAge is reporting that Volvo has selected Grey as the central branding and U.S. agency of record. The decision for Arnold not to defend the central branding assignment was made early this year given the changes in Sweden in 2012.
There had remained discussion about the U.S. business, but we were well aware that a global consolidation was a real possibility. It’s important to note however, we have not been formally informed from Volvo of a shift in the U.S. business.
Since 2007 we’ve partnered with Volvo through a maze of change and transition. We have great passion for what the brand represents, and can reconcile their desire to return central marketing to Sweden. Our team has dedicated itself to this client through four global CEO’s, four U.S. CEOs, six global marketing leaders, an acquisition by Geely and no new product launches in the U.S. since 2009.
You should be very proud of your dedication and commitment to the brand through the length of our partnership. We are leaning forward with the momentum of some wins and a very rich pipeline of new client opportunities, including automotive. 2014 is going to be a very strong year for us.
RLP”