MAM
Sears, Roebuck & Co. severs 43-year old tie with O&M; consolidates account with Y&R
MUMBAI: Sears, Roebuck and Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation, has decided to move away from its 43-year long creative agency Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. The company will now be consolidating all advertising for the retailer and its brands under one agency — Young & Rubicam, which is also a member of the WPP Group like O&M.
The new arrangement will come into effect from 1 October, 2005 and is designed to deliver a more focused and consistent brand message to customers. The account is pegged at $640 million.
The announcement follows agency presentations, during which Sears, Roebuck asked its two principal agencies, Y&R and O&M Worldwide, for proposals to integrate the account and reinvent the collaborative process to enhance value and improve speed to market.
“The single-mindedness with which we are pursuing our goal of restoring Sears to preeminence requires a similar focus in our agency partnerships,” said Sears Retail president of merchandising and marketing Luis Padilla.
“Both firms presented persuasive proposals, but we are in constant pursuit of new approaches to better connect with and profitably serve customers as one company with extensive capabilities,” Padilla added.
Under a service agreement between Sears and Y&R, the marketing communications agency will have advertising responsibility for the Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands, as well as non-product Sears, Roebuck and Co. advertising. This includes broadcast creative and production, motor sports, multicultural marketing, customer relationship management and thought leadership. The agreement does not cover media planning or buying, which will continue to be with MindShare.
Brands
Zepto sets up mini delivery hub at AI Summit
Quick commerce goes live at venue with 1,700 daily orders
NEW DELHI: At a summit devoted to the future of artificial intelligence, quick commerce quietly stole the show at ground level. Zepto set up a compact Delivery Hub at the India AI Impact Summit, turning the venue into a live demonstration of instant retail in action.
Built at roughly one third the size of a standard 4,000 sq ft dark store, the scaled down hub was engineered for speed. Despite its smaller footprint, it was stocked with more than 10,000 stock keeping units curated specifically for summit attendees. From mid morning cravings to late afternoon slumps, the shelves were primed for every possible need.
Till Wednesday, the hub was processing an average of 1,700 orders a day. Lunch hour emerged as the clear rush period, as delegates swapped panel discussions for paneer puffs and product demos for Diet Coke. Snacks topped the order charts, followed by tea and other beverages.
Among the fastest moving items were samosas, plain Maggi, chicken puffs, Bisleri packaged drinking water bottles, Coca-Cola Diet Coke cans and Lay’s India’s Magic Masala potato chips. In short, comfort food met cutting edge tech.
The on site hub gave attendees near instant access to essentials without stepping outside the venue. More than just a convenience counter, it served as a real time case study of how technology led operations can power seamless commerce even at large scale events.
While speakers debated how humans and intelligent systems will co create and co work, Zepto offered a practical reminder that sometimes the smartest innovation is simply getting a hot snack into hungry hands, fast.
