Coles Supermarkets will end its advertising contract with DDB Melbourne in March and switch exclusively to Ted Horton's Big Red agency.
Coles confirmed the move to AdNews this morning after speculation was swirling late last week that Horton had bagged the account. The grocery chain released a statement this afternoon following calls placed by AdNews.
"We will be moving our advertising to Ted Horton's Big Red agency," Coles spokesman Jon Church said. "We have built more expertise in-house and no longer have a requirement for a full service agency. Instead, we simply need a smaller, more boutique style agency, to look after our advertising.
"Ted has been contracted through DDB since April this year and he has been effectively the creative director on our business since then. We are very happy with Ted's creative work and want to continue to work with him to continue along the same journey."
Horton is said to be highly regarded by management within Coles Supermarkets and the retailer's move over the past two years to generate more of its own print, catalogue and point-of-sale work in-house increasingly sidelined DDB.
Horton's link with Coles has been kept tightly under wraps although AdNews flagged his involvement with the account in September.
"DDB should be applauded for how long they managed to hide Horton's involvement," said one rival Melbourne agency boss. Another said the "writing was probably on the wall" after DDB's point man on Coles, Michael Godwin, left to head JWT's Melbourne operation several months ago.
Horton did not return calls.
Although there is widespread belief that Coles has increased its ad spending this year, largely because of its successful MasterChef sponsorship, Nielsen figures show its ad spend declined 1% to $65.7 million for the 12 months to September.
Woolworths was off 5% down over the same period although it remains the single biggest spender in the supermarket category on $71.4 million.
Discounter Aldi, which is taking marketshare off both the big chains, lifted its spending 72% this year to $11.7 million.
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