Dairy Queen Parts Ways with Grey Advertising

Dairy Queen has been in a business relationship with Grey Advertising for the past decade and a half but has recently decided to part ways with the advertising agency. Dairy Queen is now on the hunt for a new creative agency to take the place of Grey Advertising. The managing director for Grey Advertising, Michel Houston, said, “There’s new management at DQ and as you know we’ve been partnering with them for 15 years, which in the QSR (quick-service-restaurant) category is a lifetime.” He also said, “We’re extremely proud of the work we’ve done with them. We understand that this is part of the business and wish them nothing but the best.” It seems as though there are not too many hard feelings over at Grey Advertising, even though the agency will surely miss its partnership with Dairy Queen. Houston was asked whether or not losing the Dairy Queen account would cause the company to reduce its staff. Houston did not believe that any reductions would need to be made and he said, “We’ve been fortunate to have had a pretty decent year from a business development and organic growth standpoint.” He also said, “And we understand that there’s a lot of movement in the QSR category.”

The executive vice president of marketing for Dairy Queen, Barry Westrum, recently released a statement in which he spoke of the strong relationship that Dairy Queen had with Grey Advertising. However, he made it clear that Dairy Queen is in desperate need of a serious change for the new year which is why the decision was made to split from Grey Advertising. Dairy Queen hopes to have a new advertisement agency selected within the first few months of 2013. Westrum said, “Our franchisees are hard-working business leaders in their communities who are passionate about their business.” He also said, “Our intention is to provide them with the best advertising campaign that promotes our great food and iconic treats and differentiates us from the rest of the quick-service category. …The iconic nature of the brand and charm is authentic to DQ. It is something everyone, no matter where you are, can relate to. Together with our franchisees, we want that reflected in our advertising.”

Dairy Queen has always been very loyal to its advertising agency partners. It started its relationship with Grey Advertising back in 1997 and has been with them ever since. Prior to its lengthy relationship with Grey Advertising, Dairy Queen was partnered up with Campbell Mithun for a total of 35 years.