Co-op hands BDDH £10m retail and wholesale brief

Partners BDDH has been awarded the merged advertising business for the UK’s two biggest co-operative societies, the Co-operative Retail Society and Co-operative Wholesale Society, worth more than &£10m.

The move comes after a head-on pitch against the CRS’ incumbent above-the-line agency Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters. Partners BDDH is the CWS’ own incumbent agency.

The pitch, which took place two weeks ago, follows the CRS’ decision in April to join the Co-operative Trading Group, a joint buying and marketing consortium set up by the CWS to pool buying resources.

CRTG sources goods and services for the two chains’ 1,110 stores.

John Bowes, formerly marketing manager for the CWS, who was appointed general manager, marketing, for the CRTG, oversaw the pitch.

A spokesman for the CWS says: “The campaign will be for the Co-op brand in its widest sense. We usually take the Co-op brand to be the products themselves but Partners BDDH will produce a corporate campaign.”

The creation of a major corporate campaign for the Co-op brand comes amid continuing talks between the two societies about a full-blown merger.