WW, formerly Weight Watchers, has tapped WPP to handle “upstream strategy and media planning and buying” in North America.
Mindshare, Neo and Wunderman Thompson will work on the account. In a statement, the brand said WPP’s appointment is part of a broader “Team WW” structure for North America.
“WW has designed a custom solution to deliver a dynamic media approach from brand through demand, supported by superior talent across a select set of agency partners,” the statement read.
As part of this new structure, WW said, Decoded Advertising, an agency founded by MRY’s former chief strategy and innovation officer Matt Rednor, will work “hand-in-hand” with WPP. The brand said Decoded Advertising, which it began working with last year, has expanded its performance media and creative responsibilities for WW.
The brand’s media planning and buying was previously handled by Horizon Media, which won the account in 2010. In 2018, WW named Anomaly its lead creative agency, but a spokesperson for the agency told Adweek the two stopped working together in December.
WW spent $73 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media, which doesn’t track spending on social channels.
Two years ago, the 57-year-old company shedded its name in favor of WW in a bid to better align with the wellness movement. At the time of the rebrand, it also unveiled a new tagline, “Wellness that works,” to put a greater emphasis on health and wellbeing.
