Tesco has followed the appointment of EHS 4D chief Matt Atkinson by kicking off a search for a lead agency to handle the retail giant’s digital marketing business.
It is understood the chain has already approached a number of agencies, and held chemistry meetings. At the moment, digital marketing is handled by agencies on Tesco’s roster, including The Red Brick Road, EHS 4D, as well as Ruby, Harvest Digital and BD Network.
The retailer appointed Atkinson as group marketing and digital officer last week, although he will not be joining until September so is unlikely to be involved in the pitches unless he can get that rubber-stamped by Havas. However, given the strong relationship between Tesco and EHS – a partnership that spans nearly 20 years – this cannot be ruled out.
The winning agency will handle the majority of Tesco’s digital marketing, overseeing campaigns to promote Tesco stores, as well as Tesco Bank, Tesco Mobile and the online grocery shopping and delivery service, Tesco.com.
Earlier this week, Tesco blamed an unexpected fall in UK sales in the first quarter on the performance of its large non-food departments, where like-for-like sales were down about 5%. Tesco’s non-food division put a drag on the whole group’s performance, with UK like-for-like sales down 0.1% for the three months to 28 May.
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