Audi and Skoda have retained incumbent agencies We Are Social and Ogilvy to run their respective social media accounts after a protracted review process.
Parent company Volkswagen Group had called a pitch at the beginning of 2019 – before the more widely reported Audi advertising agency review that 37-year incumbent Bartle Bogle Hegarty is defending.
Similar to the ad review, the social media review was led by VW’s procurement division.
It is understood that VW had considered appointing one agency to run the social media accounts for both brands. An Audi spokeswoman declined to comment.
However, after an eight-month process that also involved 1000heads and Goat, VW has decided to retain We Are Social for Audi and Ogilvy for Skoda.
We Are Social was appointed Audi’s UK strategic and creative social media agency in 2015 after the brand moved the business from BBH, which continued to handle above-the-line advertising. Most recently, We Are Social created “E-tron charge ahead” to promote Audi’s all-electric marque.
Ogilvy, which has worked on Skoda’s social media business for three years, recently won a gold at this year’s Influencer Marketing Awards for “#ThisIsOurTime”, a campaign to reduce gender inequality in sport.
Audi has just hired a new UK head marketer to replace Benjamin Braun, who left for Samsung earlier this year. Tina Koehler will join Audi from Amazon in January. The ad account review is ongoing.