Photo: Mark Schiefelbein via Getty Images
Chuck E. Cheese's has a new lead agency.
The Richards Group will create traditional and digital ads as well as plan and buy media for the family restaurant chain. The Dallas-based shop's first work—a campaign featuring TV, radio, print and digital ads—is expected in the second half of 2012.
Media spending on the brand totaled more than $23 million in 2010 and almost $20 million in the first 10 months of 2011, according to Nielsen. Those figures don't include online spending.
Chuck E. Cheese's, which is owned by CEC Entertainment, has some 554 restaurants, which are primarily located in the U.S. and Canada.
In the past, Chuck E. Cheese's has worked with several agencies, including Zambrelli for TV advertising, M/C/C for social media marketing and Apollo Interactive for website development. Zambrelli had worked on the brand since 1997.
In a statement, CEC chief marketing officer Scott McDaniel said Richards has the "creative brainpower and executional expertise to reposition our brand communications in a way that more effectively relays our company spirit."
