Following a review process that was conducted by Pile and Company, Ignite Restaurant Group has tapped McCann Erickson New York to serve as agency of record for its restaurant chain, Joe’s Crab Shack, while also appointing McCann sister agency UM to handle media buying and planning duties. McCann takes over for Dallas-based agency agency Slingshot, which handled creative as well as media planning. Ignite previously worked with Southwest Media Group on the buying portion for Joe’s.
Regarding Ignite’s decision, the company’s CMO Robin Ahearn says in a statement, “We believe the new partnership with McCann and UM will allow us to build upon our brand recognition by highlighting our unique menu items at Joe’s Crab Shack. We want to use this next phase of advertising and marketing to drive frequency with our current guests and introduce Joe’s Crab Shack to new guests across the country.” We had no idea, but there are reportedly 130 Joe’s locations in 31 states, go figure.
Sources familiar add that McCann beat out the likes of Arnold and Euro–sorry, Havas–for the Joe’s Crab Shack biz. McCann and Ignite will begin working together immediately with the first campaign expected to launch in spring 2013.
Update: The Arnold camp is telling us that it did NOT, I repeat, did NOT, partake in the review. Hmm.