Wow, talk about a Christmas Eve news drop. And George Parker had been suggesting it would happen for a while.
Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun-Times reports more:
S.C. Johnson has dropped a huge bomb. The Racine, Wis.-based global giant in home care is putting the advertising accounts for its entire global portfolio of brands into review — business potentially worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to the agency or agencies that wind up winning the business. Chicago-based R3:JLB will assist S.C. Johnson in selecting the agencies to compete in the review.
A S.C. Johnson spokeswoman said the agency review is all about improving the company’s marketing services capabilities and will encompass all aspects of the company’s global marketing needs, including advertising, digital/Internet, shopper marketing, promotions, direct marketing and media buying and planning.
S.C. Johnson’s decision to put its entire portfolio of brands into review could spell disaster for DraftFCB/Chicago, which, dating back as far as 1953, has handled advertising for a large number of S.C. Johnson brands. Other agencies S.C. Johnson works with include RG/A, Ogilvy and Mullen. The S.C. Johnson spokeswoman indicated incumbents will be invited to participate in the review.
It’s gonna be a rough Christmas break for lots of people as they try to make sense of this announcement. Beyond the obvious implications for the agencies involved, we’re talking about a very traditional packaged goods conglomerate with products nearly everyone uses. Lots of other big marketers, media companies, and retailers will be watching with curiosity.