This memo from McCann North America president Hank Summy to staff dropped in the inbox a little while ago. Among other things, the exec, who joined from SapientNitro last fall appears to be saying that it’s all good when it comes to retail clients including Staples and Kohl’s (the latter of which has begun scouring the agency landscape for a new shop to handle strategy work). Without further ado, we bring you Summy’s memo , which provides a sunny outlook and a quick update on what’s happening at his agency.
“Given that one of the categories hardest hit by the economy is retail, it’s not surprising that leading retailers – including Kohl’s and Staples – are looking for ideas and initiatives from a number of sources. But I am delighted to report that these retailers continue to turn to McCann NY. A few very recent examples….
Last week, we shared with you some good news about our Kohl’s relationship, specifically that we won responsibility for their big Fall branding campaign. This week we have more good news: we have been awarded responsibility for their critical Holiday AND Black Friday campaigns.
For Staples, we continue as creative AOR, a role we’ve had since winning the business in 2004. As background, Staples has a large internal creative department (150+ headcount) that historically has handled the bulk of its advertising, with McCann’s scope of work confined to TV-only assignments. Last year, we proactively pitched a Small Business Social Media program that was incremental to our fee and highly successful for the company – a first for McCann and Staples.
This Back to School season, Staples further expanded the McCann scope of work to include Canadian creative responsibilities (making McCann the creative lead for all of North America). And this last week, Staples selected McCann over Mother for a Microsoft Windows 8 assignment after McCann pitched a fully integrated campaign. (Details to follow.) The fact that Staples continuously turns to McCann over other agencies is a testament to our tenacity, the strength of our partnership with Staples, and our ongoing commitment to improving Staples’ business.
Congratulations and thank you to everyone working on those businesses, and indeed on all our businesses, for your extraordinary creativity, perseverance and competitiveness.”