Haagen-Dazs demands commitment to female creatives as it calls global review

Häagen-Dazs is on the hunt for a global agency, bringing its relationship with Saatchi & Saatchi to an end.

The ice-cream brand, which is owned by General Mills, confirmed that Saatchi & Saatchi is not repitching. The Publicis Groupe network was appointed to Häagen-Dazs's global account in 2015, although it had already created ads including 2013’s "The house of Häagen-Dazs", starring Bradley Cooper.

Häagen-Dazs said it is aiming for a more "provocative" approach to its marketing, but also made clear that it would require agencies taking part in the review to demonstrate a commitment to gender inclusion through the balance of its workforce and its agency culture.

Jennifer Jorgensen, vice-president and marketing director at Häagen-Dazs, said: "It’s notoriously tough for women to make it to the top in advertising. We want to do our part to help change that dynamic and support agencies who support the advancement of women in the industry.

"We get to choose where we spend our money and we are choosing to spend it with agencies who share our values."  

Häagen-Dazs's new agency would be "bold, brave and creative, share our vision and put our consumers first", Jorgensen said.

She added: "Our dream agency thinks in terms of big ideas that connect with our consumers at exactly the right moment and in the right place. We need them to think about our global strategy, understand our consumers across the world and the role that Häagen-Dazs could and should play in their lives and culture."

A spokeswoman said that while agencies pitching for the account would need to have a global footprint, it was not certain which city the account would be led from, although Jorgensen is based in London.