New World appoints DDB NZ as new creative agency; ends 10 year partnership with 99

New World has confirmed it has completed the review of its strategic brand agency partnerships and appointed DDB New Zealand as its new agency.

The review saw a range of agencies meet with the supermarket through a series of stages.

Says Pippa Prain, head of marketing and CX, New World: “We went into the process looking for a strategic brand partner who truly understands the new generation of shoppers we are seeing emerge across New Zealand. Not only do we want the partner to work with us to connect emotionally with our customers, we want them to align with our fantastic in-house talent and dedicated owner operators to deliver a distinctive and differentiated customer experience now and into the future.

“We would like to thank the team at 99 and the wider Clemenger Group for their hard work and support over the past 10 years. Moving agencies is a big decision, but we felt that DDB showed the strongest collective talent and capabilities we are looking for in our creative agency partner going forward.”

DDB NZ will be handling all brand communication strategy, communications development and production for key brand and retail campaigns, CRM and local store marketing. DDB NZ stood out because they demonstrated strong strategic and integrated creative capabilities alongside a deep understanding of the retail experience both in New Zealand and abroad. This, combined with their proven client track record in delivering campaigns that emotionally connect with Kiwis, suggests they are well placed to help drive sustained business growth for New World.

Says Chris Willingham, managing director, DDB NZ: “We’re thrilled to be awarded New World’s brand communication responsibilities. We have a fully integrated team of best-in-class specialists with proven expertise delivering cohesive, fully integrated brand campaigns and look forward to working across many disciplines with the New World team to leverage their local competitive strength. New World customers are going to see some really special changes in the coming months and we are excited to be on this new journey with one of New Zealand’s most iconic brands.”

Prain is convinced that DDB NZ is the right partner to take the New World brand to the next level in terms of delivering on customer needs in a fast changing retail world.

Says Prain: “We want to build on New World’s strong reputation by creating impactful communications that Kiwis love and will continue to grow the brand. We’re excited to start working with Chris and rest of the highly talented team at DDB Group.”