Kroger Co. is making a big leap by actively searching for its first outside creative agency of record.
The move bucks a trend of large companies relying more on in-house creative employees, but Cincinnati-based Kroger (NYSE: KR), the nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, sees opportunity for a fresh outside voice.
“We have been very intentional about engaging creative agencies across the U.S. with a record of transforming and elevating brands,” Kroger spokeswoman Kristal Howard told me. “We’re in the preliminary stages of the process.”
This would be the first time Kroger, founded in 1883, has hired a creative agency of record, Howard said. An agency of record would likely oversee the company’s marketing efforts such as brand strategy and handle interactive media and digital marketing as well as buy advertising time and space.
Mandy Rassi, Kroger’s head of brand building, told trade publication Ad Week that Kroger is looking for an agency “that can come in and push us out of our comfort zone and help us transform this iconic brand in a way that’s true to our roots but that is extremely relevant to customers in culture today.”
Read more at Biz Journals: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/02/25/kroger-plans-to-hire-first-creative-agency.html
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