Supermarket Morrisons has invited Wavemaker, its incumbent advertising agency, to participate in a competitive pitch process alongside Zenith and iProspect.

It comes after the nationwide grocer reviewed its media buying and planning contract earlier this year, following an assessment of its requirements.

Morrisons has not asked any other agencies to take part.

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Rachel Eyre, chief marketing officer at Morrisons, said: “We have been laser-focused on marketing effectiveness at Morrisons, and as the next step in this reinvigoration, we have decided this is the right time to review our media agency partnership. We have asked The Aperto Partnership to support us with this process.”

“We are very proud of our long-standing relationship with Wavemaker and are happy they will be participating,” she added.

Morrisons was founded by William Morrison as a market stall in 1899. The grocer’s first supermarket opened in 1961, and it now operates 497 stores across the UK, with one store located in Gibraltar. 

The supermarket chain also has a subsidiary in Hong Kong that sources products from the Asian market for its UK stores.