WINNERS HAS NEW AD AGENCY
By Adnews Staff
Harrod & Mirlin has been advertising Levis for years. Now the Toronto agency has a chance to advertise a whole clothing store. The Winners off-price retail fashion chain recently hired H&M after a quiet search in which the company talked to two other unnamed agencies. Winners began looking two months ago after Gee, Jeffery & Partners resigned the account, which they had held for more than three years. According to A. C. Nielsen estimates, Winners spent more than $2 million on advertising in Canada in 1994. "It was chemistry and creative," Winners marketing manager Carrain Buchalter told Adnews yesterday, explaining why H&M was chosen. "It was nice that they had some fashion, some retail experience," she added, referring to the fact that H&M is a Levi Strauss agency. H&M's first assignment is to do a campaign for the opening of two stores on Mar. 14, one in Whitby, Ont. and one in Nanaimo, B.C. Winners is planning to open seven stores in the spring. Since early 1992 the chain has grown from 12 to more than 50 stores in Canada. H&M has a two-pronged assignment: top-of-mind type image advertising in the Toronto area for established stores, and "educational" ads in new markets in the rest of Canada. Buchalter said that the split with Gee Jeffery was "amicable"; it was caused by that old bugbear "creative differences." Buchalter elaborated: "I really think...it was a three-year relationship and it got a little tired." Gee Jeffery president Peter Jeffery says in a release, "We had some differences on subjects that were important to us; we therefore felt the best way to help them was to step aside and give them the freedom to find another, more suitable agency to fill their needs."