The Los Angeles offices of Deutsch have won creative agency of record duties for 7-Eleven after a review, according to two very reliable sources.
The organization confirmed the win in a Thursday morning press release, with VP of marketing and brand innovation Laura Gordon stating, “The challenge is to stay one step ahead of our customers, offering the products they want, when and where they want them.” Deutsch president Kim Getty added, “What makes us most excited to work with 7-Eleven is Laura and the marketing team’s ambition. Our boldest pitch ideas were their favorites.”
The business went to JWT in 2015 when 7-Eleven, which has been fully owned by Japan’s Seven & i Holdings Co since 2005, declined to renew its contract with TracyLocke after more than a decade. It would appear that the WPP network had a per-project relationship with the client.
Sources told AdAge last month that the chain had launched a formal review supported by Mzyme Marketing of Dallas/Ft. Worth. Representatives from 7-Eleven, Mzyme and JWT all declined to confirm or comment at the time.
It’s unclear whether JWT defended in the review, and we don’t know which other agencies competed for the account. But we do have good reason to believe that Zimmerman was very interested in working on the brand.
A Deutsch spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday and deferred to the client. 7-Eleven representatives gave no comment on the review rumors last month and did not respond to our queries this week regarding the Deutsch win.
According to Kantar Media, the company spent around $24 million on paid media in the U.S. in 2015 and $28 million during the first nine months of 2016.
Those numbers aren’t incredibly high, but there’s reason to be optimistic. Last September, Seven & i Holdings president Kazuki Furuya—who now runs one of the world’s ten largest retailers—told Japan Times that he plans to more than double the number of 7-Elevens in the United States from 8,500 to 20,000-plus.
No word on related marketing campaigns.
[Pic via jeepersMedia on Flickr]