Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) selected Johannes Leonardo as its creative agency of record, following a somewhat unorthodox review led by New York-based consultancy Sunday Dinner.
“When we were approached by MassMutual, we took every opportunity to put the development of new relationships first and sidelined the ‘pitch’ process,” Sunday Dinner founder Lindsey Slaby explained in a statement.
According to a statement, Sunday Dinner was able to circumvent the traditional 3-6 month review process and “ultimately awarded Johannes Leonardo the business because of its track record in seamless storytelling regardless of category and channel.”
MassMutual previously worked with Boston-based The Fantastical on a 2015 campaign promoting its Society of Grownups project.
“It was clear that Johannes Leonardo’s consumer-first values and approach to big ideas align with ours,” MassMutual brand and advertising head Jennifer Halloran said in a statement. “The agency’s award-winning work and diverse breadth of clients [such as Adidas, Google and Sonnet] demonstrates a category-and-channel-agnostic approach in delivering messaging to all consumers and flexing along the journey to remain fresh, relevant and resonating.”
“We are excited to work with an iconic American company like MassMutual, added Johannes Leonardo president Bryan Yasko. “It is a great privilege to help a new generation of consumers feel connected with this brand while retaining the steadfast values and culture that its lifelong consumers have come to rely on.”
The latest numbers from Kantar Media have the client spending $30 million on measured media in 2015 and $40 million from January to September of 2016.