Sears, Roebuck and Co. will consolidate its reported $640 million advertising account for Sears and its private-label brands at Young & Rubicam, Chicago, on Oct. 1.
WPP-owned Y&R picks up work that had been with sister shop Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Chicago, which has worked on Sears advertising for 43 years. Both agencies pitched the business.
The account includes motor sports, multicultural marketing and customer relationship management, as well as broadcast creative and production (but not media planning or buying, which stays with WPP’s MindShare) for Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands as well as Sears Retail. First work is expected to break for holidays.
The Sears division of Sears Holdings Corp. (which also owns Kmart stores) is consolidating the work to make its consumer marketing more focused and consistent.
“The single-mindedness with which we are pursuing our goal of restoring Sears to preeminence requires a similar focus in our agency partnerships,” said Luis Padilla, president of merchandising and marketing for Sears Retail, in a statement. “Both firms presented persuasive proposals, but we are in constant pursuit of new approaches to better connect with and profitably serve customers as one company with extensive capabilities.”
Sears has no promotional agency of record. Its project agency, Wunderman, is unaffected by the advertising shift.
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