Adidas Golf recently named MDC Partners agency Vitro as its agency of record, The Drum reported yesterday. Sources close to the matter confirmed today that a review was launched earlier this year following the arrival of a new marketing leader and that incumbent Venables Bell & Partners declined to participate. Adidas Golf spent around $45 million on measured media back in 2014, according to Kantar Media.
VB&P were appointed as AOR last July, taking over for incumbent Kastner & Partners in a review that included six finalists and ten agencies total. Back in April, the agency launched a “Geared for More” campaign starring PGA pros (and Adidas athletes) Jason Day, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson for the brand ahead of the Masters.
“A lot of agencies will come in and really just think about creative,” Courtney McHugh, senior director, global brand marketing at Adidas Golf told The Drum. “Vitro came in from a business side. They really thought about our objectives. We gave them some numbers and some business objectives, but it wasn’t just about the creative. It wasn’t just about a marketing strategy. It really was about helping us obtain our business goals and thinking about it from true solutions.”
The appointment follows a lot of changes at Vitro in recent months. Last month, executive creative directors Kt Thayer and Oliver Duncan left the agency, with Thayer moving on to CP+B Boulder. A few months prior to that ASICS shifted its global creative business to 180 Amsterdam and 180LA from the agency, Red Robin (allegedly) launched a review and Wild Turkey moved part of its marketing budget overseas. The agency also recently launched a new office in Austin, hiring GSD&M’s Jake Camozzi and Victor Camozzi to run its creative department.
A larger campaign is expected from Vitro some time in 2017, with more small scale interim projects in the near future.