Red Rooster has appointed 303 Advertising as an interim advertising agency following The Brand Agency’s decision to dump its creative and production involvement in the $10 million account.
According to The Brand Agency director Steve Harris, the decision to resign was based on a decision by Australian Fast Foods, which owns Red Rooster, to seek a separate creative pitch from rival agency Clemenger Melbourne, even though The Brand Agency’s pitch won.
“They briefed us on a campaign in May, we did the creative and they didn’t like it so they took the work to Clemenger Melbourne,” Mr Harris said.
Mr Harris said The Brand Agency became aware that Red Rooster had put the account out for a review when Clemenger Melbourne started approaching his staff.
Clemenger Melbourne managing director Mark Pearce rebutted Mr Harris’s claims.
“It’s a coincidence that someone from The Brand joined,” he said.
“We’ve been talking to them [Red Rooster] about their Olympic sponsorship and they tested some of our work against The Brand, and The Brand won.”
But Mr Harris said the situation with Red Rooster was now irreconcilable.
“They came back to us and told us that we’d won the account. At that point we had a very low degree of enthusiasm for it,” Mr Harris said.
“We had a board meeting and decided that it couldn’t work, there were too many issues with the relationship.
“Winning the research review, retaining the account and being proved right was important, but in the end it proved to be a pretty hollow victory for us given the need for a strong ongoing relationship.”
However, Australian Fast Foods general manager marketing Leonie Anderson told WA Business News she didn’t believe The Brand Agency or Clemenger Melbourne could provide the strategic and creative direction the company required.
“We have a unique creative issue that needs to be solved. To date, I have seen nobody solve it,” she said.
Ms Anderson, who has a long association with 303 Advertising, believed 303 had the skills set required to undertake the upcoming Olympic sponsorship campaign for which it has been appointed.
Mr Harris said that, while The Brand Agency was responsible for the creative and production component of Red Rooster’s $10 million advertising account, the loss would not have any serious economic ramifications.
“This year Red Rooster represents less than 5 per cent of the agency’s income,” Mr Harris said.
“Between what’s in the pipeline and our plans for growth it won’t have a significant financial impact on our business.
“Most importantly, the change frees up our people for bigger tasks.”
WA Business News understands that Red Rooster has been caught out by The Brand Agency’s decision to resign from the account.
It is believed Red Rooster’s appointment of 303 Advertising is for a one-off project, which has a degree of urgency.
Clemenger Melbourne has been informed of 303’s role and Mr Pearce said the company would continue to discuss advertising options with Red Rooster.
The Brand Agency has held the fast-food account for the past two years after Frank Romano and Nick Tana bought the business from Coles Myer in March 2002.