After trimming its digital roster last November, Nestle has named the L.A. office of MDC Partners’ Doner as U.S. digital agency of record for its Nescafé, Clásico, and Taster’s Choice coffee brands. The first two brands went to Huge as part of last year’s consolidation, and this decision follows a formal review.
Sources close to the matter claim that the review came as a surprise and that it was not at first clear which brands would be involved. We hear that R/GA also participated in the review, which came about because Nestle wants to continue improving the digital performances of all of its brands; we hear that the client was not satisfied with the work being done to promote these three. A Huge spokesperson tells us that the agency amicably parted ways with the Nescafé and Clásico brands earlier this year and that it will continue working on Nestle Waters, the client’s bottled water division.
A Doner spokesperson declined to comment for this post, but we obtained a leaked internal memo congratulating employees on the new business.
This is the second recent win for Doner, which took the Food Lion account from Mullen, which should help to soften the blow after former client JCPenney chose mcgarrybowen as its new creative agency of record in October, leading to staffing cuts the following month. Also in October, longtime client AutoTrader announced it was issuing an RFP for a new creative agency partner.
The memo thanks all staffers in Detroit and L.A. who contributed to the pitch, ending with “We look forward to sharing the great work that lead to the win as it’s launched in early 2016.”
Most importantly: “Yes, their products will soon be available in all Doner kitchens and coffee rooms across the network. Delicious, piping hot (or iced) instant coffee all around!”