“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Duracell. For the past 10 months, we’ve helped make Duracell relevant to new audiences through our always-on social approach,” said Lisa Harap-Canfield, svp at VaynerMedia, in a statement.

Roberts felt like they were already up to speed on the account after Duracell made themselves extremely available throughout the pitch. That allowed the agency to build a working relationship quicker than normal with a new client.

“It was a more iterative process where they’re providing feedback, we’re making adjustments, and so we started to get a sense of how we would work together,” Roberts said. “When we jumped on the holiday brief, it felt like business as usual already.”

Running the pitch in-house

Velutini has advice for marketers for how to run an effective agency review in-house:

1. Own the pitch (it’s too important to delegate)
2. Treat it with the priority it deserves
3. Make sure the decision making process is clear, both internally and externally
4. Involve your internal business stakeholders (e.g., CEO, President) early in the process
5. Create a clear brief and articulation of your brand ambition
6. Establish a clear scorecard on how you will make the decision internally
7. Give fast and clear feedback to everyone (including agencies not selected! That’s the minimum they deserve)
8. Be nice. Many agencies participate in this process and pour their hearts into the work. Treat them with care and the respect they deserve!

Moving on from Wieden+Kennedy

Wieden+Kennedy won the business back in 2016, taking over for Anomaly at the time. Despite the split, Velutini and W+K global CEO Neal Arthur expressed the relationship between the brand and agency remains strong.

“It’s been an incredible few years for the brand, thanks in no small part to Wieden+Kennedy and the work we did together since 2016,” Velutini reflected on his time with the shop, adding that W+K holds an important role in the brand’s story and leaves the partnership with what he described as “lifelong friends.”

“Ramon is someone I’m proud to call a friend, not just a client,” Arthur told Adweek. “We’ve had a lot of wins as a team, and we wish the whole crew at Duracell the best.”