February is kicking off with some new agency of record picks for industry leading companies, expansions and investments into new markets and even a couple new agency launches.
50,000feet
50,000feet launched a new health and wellness practice. The new launch signals the agency’s commitment to strengthening capabilities and competencies to partner with brands doing meaningful, life-saving work. The practice’s new offerings will span financial services, professional services and supply chain, real estate and logistics.
AI Digital
Global programmatic consultancy AI Digital launched Elevate, an optimization and measurement solution. Elevate empowers brands to optimize digital advertising dollars by helping marketers make clear correlations between digital campaigns and brand and business outcomes.
Anomaly
Anomaly was chosen as global strategy and creative agency of record for McAfee. The agency will lead comprehensive global strategy and marketing objectives to break through in the consumer space.
Audi RED
Auto brand Audi launched Audi RED, a new customer experience digital agency. The agency was formed in partnership with Bimm Management and aims to accelerate development across Audi’s digital consumer touchpoints.
Bader Rutter
Marcom agency Bader Rutter has launched a new full-service location in Chicago to keep pace with the firm’s fast-growing food and beverage practice. The expansion strengthens services for its client roster which includes McCain Foods, Tetra Pak and Seaboard Foods.
Cain&abelDDB
Cain&abelDDB has partnered with Inspired Villages, a retirement living company that offers wholesome, independent lifestyles multiple properties. The win follows a competitive pitch, and cain&abel will support with long-term brand building, as well as effective messaging around the company’s eight locations across the U.K.
Cheil UK
Cheil UK has been appointed by Collinson as the global agency of record for performance media for Priority Pass, a leading airport experiences program to develop and execute a global performance media strategy.
Constellation
Constellation received a growth investment from Newlight Partners. The investment enables Constellation to add key talent and expand into new markets and sectors, including pharmaceuticals.
Finn Partners
Finn Partners acquired Outré Creative, an international creative and digital design agency. The agency brings clients across the financial sector in service areas including creative strategy, digital design, branding, information design and copywriting.
Gestalt Brand Lab
Gestalt Brand Lab is building out a comprehensive brand build for Best Day Brewing, a mindful drinking, non-alcoholic beer and leisure beverages company. The brand build aims to expand its foothold in the market and broaden consumer awareness.
Harte Hanks
Harte Hanks was chosen to lead new direct marketing campaigns for Pirch, a kitchen, bath and outdoor retailer. The campaigns will include a series of targeted communications to reach and engage shoppers at key moments in the home remodeling journey.
Lambert Global
Public relations, investor relations and integrated marketing firm Lambert Global acquired communications and policy advocacy firm Roy Public Affairs Management. The acquisition will expand Lambert’s in-house service capabilities and talent bench, ultimately empowering its growth and acquisition strategy.
Madison and Wall
Brian Wieser launched Madison and Wall, a new strategic advisory firm that references his previous work at the proverbial intersection of Madison Avenue and Wall Street. Madison and Wall is also the name of the firm’s new newsletter, available on its site.
Mediaocean
Mediaocean, a platform for omnichannel advertising, has made an expanded, seven-year term partnership with Publicis Groupe. The multinational collaboration extends the companies’ existing relationship. Mediaocean will provide ad infrastructure technology and other services to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, with an option to include other markets in Europe and Asia.
The agreement also incorporates a partnership to take to market primary ad serving (PAS), dynamic creative optimization (DCO), CTV/video ad serving, and measurement capabilities from Flashtalking by Mediaocean throughout Publicis’ vast agency and customer base. Additionally, the deal includes provisions for Mediaocean’s social ads management solution to be leveraged across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok and Snap.
MediaVision
MediaVision was chosen to lead organic search strategy for Moss Bros. The partnership between the two has been formalized after a three-month trial, during which Moss Bros saw 112% year-on-year growth in organic traffic.
MullenLowe PR
MullenLowe PR was appointed as public relations agency of record by frozen snack brand Yasso. The agency will lead strategic public relations efforts for Yasso, including earned media and influencer programming.
Power Digital
Power Digital, a tech-enabled growth marketing firm, has acquired marketing agency Sproutward, with offices in Boston and Columbus. It is the fifth acquisition since 2019, bringing in 30 new team members to grow the organization’s headcount to 580 strategic, consultative marketers, creatives, data scientists and technologists.
Team One
Team One’s think tank and strategic consultancy, The Legacy Lab, announced the recipient of its fourth-annual Legacy Lab Foundation Scholarship. The recipient of the $15,000 scholarship is Antoinette Banks, a Ph.D. student at the learning and minds sciences program at University of California Davis. Banks was chosen for her impressive research on the importance of technology in special education classrooms, with an emphasis on predictive and artificial intelligence models.
Four additional Rising Star awards were given to Emma Ekua-Bedua Hudson, Jonathan Muruako, Oluwamuyiwa Winifred Adebayo and Kianna Armstrong.
Trust Relations
Trust Relations was renewed as the agency of record for Valant. Trust Relations leads promotion of Valant’s EHR and practice management software for behavioral health practices.
Uni
Uni just signed on as an official sponsor of National Signing Day at iMG Academy. The sponsorship is an extension of uni’s “Start Your Story” campaign, which focuses on supporting inspiring individuals writing the next chapter of their lives.
Via
Via just landed two new clients in the beverage category. The brands include non-alcoholic craft brewery KitNA and Portland Distilling Company.
Wunderman Thompson
HungerStation, one of the leading online food ordering platforms in Saudi Arabia, worked with Wunderman Thompson teams in Seattle and Riyadh to create a tool that will end the back and forth by handing the decision-making process over to the subconscious mind. Images of different cuisines are presented to the user via a tool in the HungerStation app, which uses the camera on the device to track the users’ eye movement. It then uses topic modeling AI to organize food options and present an instant report of what the eye lingered the longest on to reveal the subconscious craving. The tool then generates a list of local restaurants where HungerStation customers can order.