Yesterday Nationwide officially confirmed what had been rumored for a few months: it would no longer work with creative AOR McKinney, ending its relationship with the Cheil shop after nearly seven years.
Interestingly, we heard nothing of any pending changes in the client’s relationship with Ogilvy & Mather New York. As you know, that shop’s ad from last year’s Super Bowl was very contentious, inspiring angry posts on right-wing gutter blogs and allegedly leading to the departure of CMO Matt Jauchius. (He did alright, BTW: he’s now EVP and chief marketer at Hertz.)
Today, sources offered some more context, claiming that a closed review went down between McKinney and Ogilvy with the latter emerging victorious. This means that all forthcoming Nationwide ads will be created by Ogilvy, though its status is not yet official.
Of course, O&M didn’t just work on “Make Safe Happen”; it was also responsible for all the 50th anniversary spots starring Peyton Manning.
For this post, an agency spokesperson deferred to the client, which again declined to elaborate on whether it had conducted a review and which agency or agencies it will work with moving forward. Sources close to the matter, however, confirm that the pitch occurred…and McKinney obviously did not win.
Kantar Media’s latest numbers show that the client spent $235.9 million on measured media in the months between January and October of 2015. This number marked an increase from its 2014 spend, so expect more national campaigns to come.