WESTERN SUPERMARKET CHAINS HIRE AGENCIES
By Adnews Staff
Palmer Jarvis Communications walked out of one supermarket and into another during the summer. Last week the Vancouver-based firm emerged the winner in a competition for the ad account of the Save-On-Foods grocery chain, a division of Vancouver-based Overwaitea Food Group. At the same time, Calgary-based Canada Safeway gave the nod to Ogilvy & Mather/West in Calgary. Save-On spent $2.9 million on advertising last year, according to Nielsen marketing Research figures. The account was previously with Advantage Marketing and Advertising, which was included in the review. In the end Palmer Jarvis emerged the victor in a shootout with BBDO Canada and Cossette Communication-Marketing. Palmer Jarvis was added to Save-On's list after resigning the Safeway account it had held for 12 years, even though it was invited to take part in the review. Safeway, which has stores from Vancouver to Thunder Bay, has been re-organizing for the past couple of years, with more administration being taken over by head office in California. Nielsen Marketing Research estimates the company spent $10.7 million on advertising last year, but this year the talk in the industry is that spending was two to three million. When asked to comment on this, Safeway media analyst George Dordevic said those weren't the company's numbers and the ad budget is confidential. O&M won the business because it was the best fit, said Dordevic. Five other Calgary agencies competed for the account: Highwood Communications, FWJ Communications, Parallel Strategies, Watermark Advertising Design and The Venture Group.