Why are so many companies shopping for new agencies?

There’s a game of musical chairs being played. Or is it duck, duck, goose? Whatever the best analogy is, several brands within the past few weeks have a) hired a new agency or b) put their existing partnerships under review. Here’s a quick roundup:

• Planet Fitness picked Team Lift—a new unit within Publicis Groupe created specifically for the brand—as its gym buddy agency of record to handle “marketing strategy, centralized data and analytics, media planning and buying, creative, and brand partnerships.”
• Sports betting app FanDuel tapped Wieden+Kennedy as its lead creative agency, which worked on its first national campaign.

Ad Age reported on a flurry of other agency shakeups in the past week. TJ Maxx picked MullenLowe as its new creative agency of record. Additionally, Instacart, vacuum brand Bissell, and import beer Modelo Especial are all reportedly looking for new shops.

Maybe it’s hot potato. Some of this is business as usual, but there are other factors at play. Memorial Day and Labor Day tend to be markers on marketers’ calendars as they prepare for back-to-school or for the new year, Ken Robinson, principal and co-founder at Ark Advisors, told Marketing Brew.

Brands also might be finally getting around to reviews that they’ve been putting off since the start of the pandemic. “With clients (and the stock market) feeling more optimistic, they are moving forward with reviews they had put on hold,” Robinson told us.

The pandemic also just plain shook up the way business is done, shifting a lot of transitions into the digital world. That may have prompted companies to look for fresh strategies, Robinson explained. “In many cases, clients are realizing that their agencies are not keeping pace with their new marketing needs.”—ZS