Back in March we reported that Deutsch had been forced to defend its Pizza Hut account after less than 18 months.
At the time, the client’s parent company Yum! Brands declined to respond to any of our emails beyond telling us that they had forwarded our inquiries to the chain’s PR team…which must be so busy!!
Anyway, a couple of readers called this one as an OBVIOUS win for Droga5, and so it has come to pass. As the company’s statement for the AdAge exclusive puts it, “After earnest discussions with the team at Deutsch, we have mutually agreed to part ways due to creative differences.”
On that point, the client launched a review that led to our earlier post and picked Droga over an unspecified number of other (unnamed) agencies. Quite a few people saw this one coming, especially after the chain plucked David Timm away from KFC to become its chief marketing officer.
For context, Droga will be Pizza Hut’s fifth agency of record in just over six years. Since BBDO agreed not to defend the business after 20 years in 2009, the Yum brand has already plowed through The Martin Agency (3+ years), mcgarrybowen (approximately 6 months) and Deutsch (about 18 months).
A Deutsch spokesperson declined to comment on the news, but we hear that the decision to part ways was truly mutual and that the agency helped the client through the review process after agreeing to end the relationship.