Australia’s largest supermarket Woolworths has chosen Droga5 as its creative agency, following a competitive pitch.
The agency succeeds long-term partner M+C Saatchi, which decided not to re-pitch for the account, estimated to be worth $8 million annually.
Droga5 confirmed the win to B&T after the news first broke in The Australian. Droga5 will join an agency village that includes Everyday Rewards partner TBWA\Australia and the media agency Dentsu.
Woolworths called the review in May under new chief marketing officer Sean Barrett, who joined the Fresh Food People in January from US retail group Albertsons Companies.
Barrett told The Australian the supermarket giant looked forward to working with Droga5 to “build distinct, meaningful work for our brands with our immediate focus turning to working together to deliver our upcoming Christmas campaign”.
Droga5 joins Woolworths at a challenging time for the supermarket. In April, the ACCC took out Federal Court proceedings, accusing Woolworths of misleading shoppers with fake discounts on more than 260 products.
M+C Saatchi, which has worked with Woolworths for around a decade, set up the Greenhouse model in 2019 to bring together external agencies and Woolworths’ in-house creative capability.
Although media wasn’t under review, there has been industry speculation that Woolies could put it up for pitch after the creative review was settled.
Woolworths is the second major account to leave M+C Saatchi this year after the Commonwealth Bank moved its creative to Howatson+Company, a pitch in which Droga5 was also involved.
In recent times, the agency won a brief with Qantas but recently lost the Asahi creative review.
Rival supermarket Aldi is also in the throes of creative review with BMF the incumbant.
