COAST TO COAST: Sears Finalists From N.Y., S.F., Chicago By Jim Kir

Sears, Roebuck & Co. surprised many agency observers by looking beyond Chicago and its traditional agency stable last week in the review for its

Six agencies, including both the New York and Chicago offices of incumbent Ogilvy & Mather, will be in Chicago on Monday to do a quick walk-through of some Sears stores and be briefed by senior vp/marketing Matt Howard and other executives about the upcoming projects. DDB Needham Chicago and New York; Hal Riney & Partners/S.F.; Saatchi & Saatchi/N.Y.; Wells Rich Greene BDDP/N.Y. and Young & Rubicam/N.Y. are the other agencies slated to pitch the business.
Incumbent agency O&M/Chicago is involved, according to office ceo Tom Hall, but the New York office is where the business will be handled if Ogilvy prevails in the review. Hall said on Friday that both offices were working on the business, and that the New York office had filled out the questionnaire from Morgan, Anderson & Co.
‘I chose to have the New York office involved,’ Hall said. ‘But we are the only agency with the full knowledge and the intimacy of (Sears’) business.
Our New York office comes in with a full range of new resources and fresh thinking. So together, this is one Ogilvy & Mather that’s pitching.’
It is expected that O&M ceo Charlotte Beers will play a prominent role in the pitch. Along with Hall, New York creative director Bill Hamilton and two other New York account executives as well as the Chicago Sears team are slated to be at Monday’s meeting.
Some industry observers were surprised with the inclusion of outside shops Hal Riney, Saatchi & Saatchi and Wells Rich Greene in the finals. Sears has typically stayed within the realm of agencies it has worked with in the past. Leo Burnett Co., which handles Sears’ Allstate Insurance and Dean Witter Financial units, couldn’t pitch the business because of a conflict with its newly won Fruit of the Loom account.
Foote, Cone & Belding/Chicago, which had handled some Sears business in the past and been an early contender, said that Sears found their Payless Shoe Source business to be a conflict. Whether an outside agency will get a fair shot remains to be seen.
Most observers expect the review to come down to a shoot-out between O&M and DDB Needham.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)