Party City selected Boston-based Hill Holliday as its lead creative, digital and media agency, following a review launched in February which saw longtime incumbent Zimmerman Advertising defend the account. At least one source tells us Barkley also pitched.
We reached out to Zimmerman for comment but have yet to receive a response, which may be because the Ft. Lauderdale agency has also handled PR for Party City.
“While we are sorry to part ways with Party City, we understand that new management often triggers new agencies,” Zimmerman CEO Michael Goldberg said in a statement published by AdAge.”That said, we will always root for them and take pride knowing we helped them double their revenue, more than doubled their profits, increased unaided awareness from 26% to 86% and drove positive comp sales every year of our relationship — something unheard of in today’s retail marketplace.”
Zimmerman’s most well-known work for the brand was this 2009 Halloween spot set to Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller.”
Zimmerman recently picked up creative lead duties on Nissan as the client restructured its relationship with Omnicom in North America. Hill Holliday, meanwhile, parted ways with John Hancock after over 30 years last month.
According to Kantar Media, Party City spent around $50 million in 2015 and $27 million from January to September of 2016.