After 13 years with Arnold, the Legacy anti-tobacco group is moving on.
The longtime strategic and creative agency for Legacy failed to reach the final round of the organization's creative review, marking an end to the shop's tenure. Sources identified the finalists as BBDO, 72andSunny, 180LA, Anomaly and Droga5.
Annual media spending on the assignment is projected to rise to about $50 million next year. Pile + Co. in Boston is managing the search.
Arnold first started working for Legacy in 2000—in partnership with Crispin Porter + Bogusky—and became the sole creative shop in 2007. The agency's elimination from the review comes two months after Legacy named a new CEO: Robin Koval, the former CEO of Publicis Kaplan Thaler in New York.
Arnold global president Pam Hamlin referenced the leadership change in an internal email to agency staffers this morning.
"With a new CEO at Legacy, there seems to be a desire to have a new agency partner for the next chapter" of the "Truth" campaign, Hamlin wrote.
"We will be forever proud of what we've achieved," she added. "Every person who has contributed over the past 13 years can walk away knowing they made a difference in people's lives."
Legacy executives are expected to brief the remaining contenders in two weeks and a selection is expected in late January or early February.
As the creative review inches forward, a review of Legacy's media planning and buying responsibilities is complete. Three weeks ago, the group named WPP Group's MediaCom in New York to handle the business. The winner succeeds Omnicom Group's PHD.