Source: Adweek
Anomaly London has come out on top in the race to win BMW’s Mini brand.
The agency has been named Mini’s “lead international communications agency” and will handle all things digital and creative. Seven international agencies pitched the business, making it “the most ambitious pitch ever” in the history of the brand, according to Mini. A source close to the pitch said R/GA, Ogilvy and AnalogFolk are believed to have participated, but it’s not clear which other agencies were involved.
Moving forward, Anomaly London will begin working on parts of the business that were previously handled by different agencies. In a statement, Mini’s head of global brand management Sebastian Beuchel thanked “longtime partners Jung von Matt and KKLD for the successful and good cooperation.” Jung von Matt and KKLD are both headquartered in Germany, as is BMW.
“Alongside its creative claim and international approach, the decisive factor in appointing this new lead agency was its strong digital focus,” Beuchel said in a statement.
An Anomaly spokesperson said the global pitch took place virtually because of the coronavirus lockdown.
Droga5 London won the Mini Electric account in 2018, while The Brooklyn Brothers, which has offices in New York and London, won the brand’s U.K. business in 2016. Droga5 stopped working with the brand last summer after its “rolling project” with Mini Electric ended, a source familiar with the matter said. A spokesperson for The Brooklyn Brothers said it will continue to serve as lead integrated agency for Mini in the U.K.
In the U.S., Pereira & O’Dell and 360i were named Mini’s agency partners in 2017, with the former taking on creative work for the brand and the latter focusing on digital and social efforts. A spokesperson for 360i said it now works with the brand on a project basis, as Critical Mass has since joined the brand’s agency roster in the U.S. to pick up some of its digital work.
According to Kantar, which doesn’t track spending on social channels, Mini spent $12.6 million on media last year in the U.S.
Anomaly London and Mini will begin working together in June. Next year, Mini plans to debut an integrated brand and product campaign. The brand said Anomaly London’s responsibilities will include “development of creative ideas, implementation of digital communication and the development of an ‘always-on’ editorial approach.”
