Maja Pawinska Sims 09 Jul 2021 // 11:56AM GMT
LONDON — WaterWipes has moved its $10 million global marketing account from Interpublic to Omnicom, with Omnicom PR Group (OPRG) agencies taking over from Golin on leading PR and reputation management.
The biodegradeable baby wipes brand, which a presence in more than 50 countries and is still a family-owned business based in Drogheda, Ireland, will continue working with IPG until the end of October as the account transitions.
Golin’s work for the brand since IPG landed the global account in 2018 included last year’s SABRE award-winning Early Days Club initiative, developed with sister advertising agency The Brooklyn Brothers and Virgo Health to support new parents in lockdown.
OPRG’s global brief covers a mix of reputation management, social media, influencer relations, earned consumer and consumer health media relations, and healthcare professionals (HCP) communications – both HCP-to-HCP and HCP-to-consumer.
Omnicom’s PR group includes FleishmanHillard, Porter Novelli, Ketchum, Portland and Marina Maher Communications. In France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Singapore, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum and Porter Novelli operate together under the OPRG brand.
Chris Foster, CEO of OPRG, told PRovoke Media: “We are excited to partner with the WaterWipes team to provide all of their brand marketing and corporate communications needs. Our collaboration model across OPRG agencies allows us to drive growth for WaterWipes through a centralized global strategy backed by the rich insights and execution of our local market teams.”
Also under the new global agency of record deal, BBDO LA will lead on creative and strategy, OMG on media and Velocity Commerce Group (VCG) will handle retail.
In a statement, WaterWipes said it was “looking forward to a new partnership” as it implements an ambitious global strategy to grow the brand, with an increased focus on its top 10 international markets.
WaterWipes chief demand officer Ali Levins said: “For the past year we have worked to reinvigorate our vision and strategy – and set challenging goals that we want to achieve by 2023. Omnicom will help us deliver our new strategy with a one-network model that gives us access to always-on strategy across marketing verticals and allows for local expertise, all while maximising efficiencies.
"We are so grateful to IPG and specifically The Brooklyn Brothers for the positive role they have played over the years on our creative and brand journey that brought us to this point.”
She added: “Our strategic ambition spans several continents, where we strive to make our much-loved product available to more families seeking the purest option for their babies’ skin. We have worked with Omnicom on other projects of this geographic scale in the past and we know its network is best placed to support WaterWipes on its new journey.”