Sainsbury’s has selected PHD as its sole media planning and buying agency following a closed review which pitted the Omnicom-owned agency against WPP’s EssenceMediacom.
The grocer had kicked off the review process in March, with PHD at the time holding the primary media planning and buying account and EssenceMediacom handling the digital side of the business.
PHD’s victory marks the agency’s second consecutive retention of the account after an arduous review process in 2017. This latest win means that PHD will be solely responsible for Sainsbury’s media planning and buying.
“We believe PHD is the right partner to help us deliver on our strategic objectives over the next three years,” Sainsbury’s director of marketing, brands, planning and creative, Radha Davies said.
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“Throughout the process the agency was able to articulate a compelling case for a single agency model and embedded this in innovative, insight-based, holistic media planning.”
The news marks EssenceMediacom’s second consecutive account loss in as many weeks after it lost the lucrative L’Oréal UK and Ireland account to Publicis Media.
PHD UK CEO, Ali Reed added: “PHD and Sainsbury’s is one of the industry’s most enduring client/agency partnerships. But it’s a partnership looking to the future, not the past.
“Our integrated agency as a platform model will deliver a data-driven approach to growth that connects every part of the customer journey – helping Sainsbury’s outthink, outpace and outgrow the competition.”
