Skip to content
SCREENCHOW

SCREENCHOW

Food News Delivered to you Daily

  • Agency Accounts
  • ScreenView Series
  • Podcasts

Zimmerman Won a Majority of McDonald’s Regional Business as Chain Shrank Agency Roster from 58 to 7

ScreenChowDecember 14, 20172017, Account Review, Agency Spy, Florida, McDonald's, Zimmerman

Post navigation

Previous
Next

In an effort to cut costs, McDonald’s consolidated its local advertising business this summer with just seven agencies, a sharp decline from the 58 it used to employ, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

mcdonalds logo screenchow

One person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the agencies chosen were longtime partners Lopez Negrete, Bernstein-Rein, Moroch, Davis Elen and H&L and newcomers Doner and Zimmerman. The latter won the lion’s share of the business.

Another reliable source confirmed this lineup, which was first reported by AdAge, and added that Zimmerman has since lost an unspecified portion of the business—which amounted to 19 regional co-ops including Ohio. The chain’s 180 cooperatives had been consolidated to 50 prior to the review. Each then chose an agency partner from the list of 7.

It’s unclear why Zimmerman lost a portion of its responsibilities.

“Building the modern, progressive company that we aspire to be involves changing the way we do business,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman wrote in an email to Adweek. “In order to accelerate our efforts to engage customers across all platforms to advance our brand vision, we aim to streamline and modernize our local marketing efforts in 2018.”

She declined to comment further.

Zimmerman also declined to comment, deferring to the client. The agency had not previously worked with McDonald’s, but the primary source said McDonald’s relationship with Omnicom—centered on the dedicated agency We Are Unlimited—played a key role in the chain’s decision to assign the work to the Florida agency.

The decision to consolidate came from McDonald’s executives, who are being pressured to deliver on a pledge they’ve made to produce $300 million in cost savings over the next five years, according to the primary source.

McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook has been laser-focused on what he calls a “velocity growth plan” to reduce costs and streamline operations as the fast-food chain invests heavily in new technology and works to return capital to shareholders.

Per a Kantar Media report, McDonald’s spent $791.3 million on advertising in the U.S. in 2016 and $350.7 million in the first half of this year.

from Agency Spy: http://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/zimmerman-lost-a-portion-of-mcdonalds-business-after-chain-shrank-regional-agency-roster-from-58-to-7/141163

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Post navigation

Previous Burger King lights up the BBQ in McDonald’s Christmas ambush
Next Netflix’s new true crime series tackle Trump Inc. and the food industry
    Create a website or blog at WordPress.com
    • Follow Following
      • SCREENCHOW
      • Join 257 other followers
      • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
      • SCREENCHOW
      • Customize
      • Follow Following
      • Sign up
      • Log in
      • Copy shortlink
      • Report this content
      • View post in Reader
      • Manage subscriptions
      • Collapse this bar
    %d bloggers like this: