Lowe’s Launches Agency Review for Its $300 Million Media Account

By Patrick Coffee 

Home improvement retail giant Lowe’s has launched its first media agency review in more than a decade. Creative is not part of the review, and sources indicate that incumbent OMD may not defend.

A Lowe’s spokesperson sent the following statement to Adweek:

“As part of the normal course of business, we regularly review the agencies and vendors that support our company to evaluate our objectives against performance and ensure we remain strategically aligned. As the consumer and media landscape continues to rapidly evolve, we are exploring the most compelling and efficient ways to reach consumers to help ensure we remain well positioned.”

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As is the case with so many reviews, this one follows a change atop the client’s marketing team: last November, Lowe’s promoted VP of marketing Marci Grebstein to the CMO role.

The company’s last review came in 2005, when Lowe’s moved its media and creative away from McCann to OMD and BBDO. The client’s annual media spend was nearly the same in 2004 ($318 million) as it was in 2015 ($320 million).

Both OMD and BBDO declined to comment, though Lowe’s confirmed that the creative portion of its business was not affected. Sources tell us that OMD will not defend the account but that another Omnicom entity will most likely participate in the review, which remains in the RFI stage at this time. International consultancy R3 is managing the process.

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