Sonic, franchisor of the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants today announced the selection of Zenith Media as its new media agency.
Zenith‘s responsibilities will include working with Sonic on all national and local media-planning and buying, including online and offline, in addition to providing robust tools to measure performance and ROI. Zenith was selected from a group of finalists that also included Maxus, Chicago (Group M/WPP) and Universal McCann, Detroit (IPG).
“The finalist agencies did an outstanding job of demonstrating their unique capabilities and applying their team’s talents and expertise to Sonic’s media needs. Zenith was selected based on their superior planning and buying expertise with great insights into our brand and target, as well as the quality of their team,” said Sonic’s Chief Marketing Officer, Danielle Vona.
“We are so proud to have been chosen as Sonic’s media partner,” said Dave Ehlers, executive vice president and managing director-Zenith. “We believe they recognized throughout the review process the strategic thinking and local market media muscle Zenith can bring to bear for Sonic and its franchisees.”
Sonic joins Zenith’s impressive client list which includes Verizon, Chase, Toyota/Lexus, Nestle and 20th Century Fox.
The appointment is effective January 1, 2011, pending contract execution.
On October 11, Sonic placed the majority of its business in review with separate searches for media specialists and creative specialists. The creative review finals will occur in late January/early February with selection and appointment scheduled for February.
Other Sonic agencies are recently selected Euro RSCG Discovery for menus, POS and packaging, Lopez Negrete for Hispanic, Barkley for public relations and cause marketing, and C3, the agency for Sonic’s children’s program.
Joanne Davis Consulting, Inc., New York, NY, is assisting Sonic with the reviews.
About Sonic
Sonic, America’s Drive-In, originally started as a hamburger and root beer stand in 1953 in Shawnee, Okla., called Top Hat Drive-In, and then changed its name to Sonic in 1959. The first drive-in to adopt the Sonic name is still serving customers in Stillwater, Okla. Sonic has more than 3,500 drive-ins coast to coast, where approximately three million customers eat every day. For more information about Sonic Corp. and its subsidiaries, visit Sonic at www.sonicdrivein.com.
