Olive Garden launched a creative review, which is being managed by Pile + Co. in Boston, Adweek reports. The brand spent $155 million in measured media in 2014, according to Kantar Media.
Incumbent Grey, who has handled creative for Olive Garden since 1986, will be defending in the review. Olive Garden executive vice president of marketing Jose Duenas confirmed Grey’s participation in a statement, adding that the agency has been a “tremendous partner and has played an important part in helping build the Olive Garden brand.” The review is currently in its early stages and expected to conclude sometime in the fall.
Olive Garden has been making changes to its marketing lately in an attempt to jump start its struggling business. Last March, Olive Garden unveiled a brand redesign, including a new logo that met with its share of criticism. Grey’s latest campaign for the brand, released in May, showed a change in direction with its reliance on home video footage rather than the more typical product-centric advertising Olive Garden became known for. Now it appears the brand is committed to taking the next step in reinventing itself, with or without Grey.