Burberry restarts global media review after two-year pause during the pandemic

Burberry has restarted a global media planning and buying review that it had placed on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Campaign understands the British luxury fashion brand, which has worked with Dentsu since 2013, has conducted an all-agency briefing that involved the incumbent, OMD, Group M’s Wavemaker and a Stagwell Group solution led by Assembly.

The review, which is being advised by ID Comms, was paused in March 2020 after participating agencies had completed RFIs; some had been briefed by the client before Covid-19 put the brakes on the process.

Burberry, a British fashion house famous for its tartan design, posted revenue growth of 21% to £2.8 billion ($3.3 billion) in the FY 2021/22, reporting its adjusted operating profit grew by 4% to £543 million ($646 million).

The group is estimated to spend about $100m on advertising globally.

Its most important consumer markets are the UK, China, Japan and the US.

The inclusion of Stagwell Group, which has its headquarters in the US, is interesting. It positions itself as a challeger agency group and recently acquired independent media agency Goodstuff in the UK.

Burberry and its creative agency Megaforce picked up a Gold Lion for Film Craft for its "Open spaces" campaign at this year's Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

All agencies involved as well as ID Comms and Burberry declined to comment on the review.