A handful of contenders in Dick’s Sporting Goods’ search for a creative agency await a decision, following final presentations last week.
The finalists include Anomaly, TBWA\Chiat\Day, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Anomaly and TBWA\C\D are pursuing the business from their New York offices and Crispinfrom its offices in Miami and Boulder, Colo.
The pitches took place at Dick’s headquarters in Corapolis, Pa. The retailer, which last year spent about $60 million in media, according to Nielsen, could select a shop as soon as this week.
The search represents a shift for Dick’s, which historically has produced its advertising in-house. A key decision maker is new chief marketing officer Lauren Hobart, a former senior marketing executive at PepsiCo., who joined Dick’s in February. Hobart spent 14 years at Pepsi, lastly as U.S. CMO of the company’s carbonated soft drink brands.
Annual media spending for Dick’s has risen in recent years. Last year’s total was up 17 percent from 2009’s tally of $51 million and up 54 percent from 2008’s total of $39 million, according to Nielsen. Those figures don’t include online expenditures.
The contenders either declined to comment or referred calls to Dick’s, which through a representative, had no comment.
