T-Mobile has changed its social media agency lineup for the second time in a year, ending its relationship with Publicis’ MRY and choosing Portland-based Swift and The Laundry Service to handle portions of the business moving forward.
A T-Mobile spokesperson writes:
“I can confirm that we are no longer working with MRY and that we have added Swift and Laundry Service to our roster of agencies.”
Advertisement
Earlier this month, we posted on a round of layoffs at MRY following Visa’s decision to consolidate its digital/social media work with creative AOR BBDO. The T-Mobile loss, which occurred around the same time, also contributed to that move.
We first heard about the MRY win last October, but the agency had already been working with the client for several months at that point. MRY was hired to handle “social creative and marketing content,” but the shop didn’t just manage the brand’s Twitter account. For example, its West Coast operations created the online-only videos in T-Mobile’s recent “Binge On” campaign starring Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad.
MRY pitched and won the business when T-Mobile decided to move its social work away from longtime agency partner Big Fuel (which became its first such agency in 2011), but the client declined to renew the contract earlier this year.
The Laundry Service is a Wasserman Media Group property with offices in New York, L.A., Portland and the U.K. that specializes in influencer marketing, while Swift focuses on strategy, creative and production. It would seem, then, that Laundry Service will handle the purely social aspects of the business while Swift will lead on campaign strategy and execution. (The latter shop was acquired by Possible in 2014, so it is now a WPP agency.)
Publicis remains T-Mobile’s creative agency of record.