Just over a year after naming New York City-based Barker as its new agency of record for a brand relaunch, SlimFast has retained the indie agency’s services after a full creative review.
Back in late 2014, Barker beat out Pereira & O’Dell, DiMassimo Goldstein and Omelet to win the business; this time, it pitched against two MDC Partners agencies (Doner and CP+B) as well as Omnicom’s The Marketing Arm and VaynerMedia.
This means that Barker, which was tasked with managing last year’s $50 million refresh, will continue to work on branding, marketing strategy, and creative concerning TV, print and digital for “master brand and innovation extensions.” It will partner with new media/direct response unit agency Chief Media, which won a separate review.
To date, Barker’s primary work for SlimFast has been the “It’s Your Thing” campaign, which launched in mid-2015.
The press release tells us that the campaign “dramatically reversed 7 years of declining sales for the venerable brand” and also claims that the TV post above “outperformed CPG norms in 13 categories in testing.”
Agency founder John Barker, who previously spent several years with the Grey Group, said: “Historically, fewer than 10% of incumbent agencies retain accounts. We beat very long odds against some of the best agencies in the business because we understand this consumer and know how to connect and generate action. We appreciate SlimFast’s confidence in our ongoing partnership.”
“Each of the finalist agencies presented compelling work, but BARKER came through again with the strategy and creative we felt would move us to the next level more quickly,” added SlimFast CEO Chris Tisi.
Unilever sold the SlimFast brand to Kainos Capital in 2014 for an undisclosed sum while retaining a minority stake in the business.
The Barker organization, which describes itself as “agents of change,” also lists PepsiCo, Estee Lauder, P&G, PDI Healthcare, NBC Universal and Conjure Cognac among its clients.
Its newest work for SlimFast will debut this fall.