Wirz becomes new lead agency for Migros

Major success for Wirz Communications: The agency prevailed in the pitch and is Migros' new lead agency. "As part of a strategic realignment, Migros held a pitch at the beginning of the year to find a lead agency. Selected agencies were invited to participate," confirms company spokesman Patrick Stöper when asked by Werbewoche.ch.

In the end, Wirz was awarded the contract and was able to prevail over Publicis, among others - the agency that was most recently responsible for the communication of the umbrella brand with the "Owner" campaign.

Everything from one cast

The aim of the new mandate is, among other things, to standardize communication throughout the year and thus bring more consistency to the brand presence. In the future, Christmas, Easter and Grill will all come from the same mold. The "Grillitarians" are therefore moving to Uetlibergstrasse - whether they will also be there next season remains to be seen.

"In detail, it is the case that we already looked after a nice part of Migros before this pitch," Livio Dainese, co-CEO of Wirz, tells Werbewoche.ch. This refers, for example, to the entire offer communication, the "thick ship" Christmas - most recently with Imp Finn and Owl Mimi, the Easter and the Manias. "It's nice that we are now allowed to carry the entire Migros brand and can thus provide more stringency along with it," Dainese is pleased.

Livio Dainese, Creative Director and Co-CEO of Wirz Communications.

Livio Dainese, Creative Director and Co-CEO of Wirz Communications.

"Homework done"

With Migros, Wirz wins one of the most prestigious and important accounts in Switzerland. The joy and pride at Uetlibergstrasse is correspondingly great. "First of all, it is a great honor to Favorite brand in Switzerland," says Livio Dainese. "Secondly, it shows me that we have positioned Wirz correctly. Because you don't just win a pitch like this with a creative campaign, but with a clever strategy, the right setup, the right work processes and the right team. In other words, anyone who gets to look after Migros has done their homework."

Home office pitching

The pitch lasted a total of three months, says the 2018 "Advertiser of the Year," and the agency didn't let the onset of the Corona pandemic rattle it. "We fought the last third in the home office. Including the final presentation via video call in the basement between a Tipp-Kick playing field, Hammond organ and racing bike."

Challenging times, clear focus

Migros is facing challenging times. Over the past few years, the retail giant has struggled to with shrinking profits, 2018 the company announced almost 300 job cuts for the following three years - including in marketing. Does this starting position make the work particularly interesting for the agency? "Of course it's exciting," says Dainese. "We're excited to play a small part in making sure Migros is still standing there successfully in a few years."

Nevertheless, the creative director puts the focus on other things - the headlines about the Migros figures are "more of a sideline" for Wirz, as he emphasizes. "What we want is to realize the best campaigns for Migros. Campaigns that are honest and pick up people in their lives."