Land Rover to move global ad account into Spark44

Land Rover is poised to move its entire global creative and digital advertising business into Spark 44, the global joint venture agency in which Jaguar Land Rover has a 50 per cent stake.

Although set up as Jaguar’s global communications and marketing partner, Spark44 has also been moving in on Land Rover’s creative assignments in recent months, acquiring Land Rover’s incumbent Australian ad agency Morris & Partners at the end of last year.

The main loser in the US, UK and Asia is Young & Rubicam, which has produced high-profile award winning work for the Land Rover brand. In China, the move appears to mainly effect Y&R Group company Wunderman.

Last week, Campaign reported that Jaguar moved its social media business to Spark44 from We Are Social which has handled the business since 2011.

Jaguar said it was a "strategic decision" and Jim Coleman, the managing director at We Are Social, referred to the move as "cost cutting".

Spark 44, which has offices in LA, London, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Sydney, launched in 2011 claiming to be a "unique communications entity ... helmed by professionals with unequaled expertise in every customer touch point in the automotive universe."

The latest ad from Y&R Global and Tag "adventure gene" will be released on April 1. The TV, outdoor, print and digital campaign launches the Land Rover Discovery Sport model.

Recent Land Rover work to come out of the US includes an original, interactive digital book, The Vanishing Game, written by best-selling British novelist William Boyd.

The online thriller, by Y&R New York, follows the protagonist on a suspenseful driver from London to a remote part of Scotland, brought to life through an interactive, multimedia platform.

Spark44 and Jaguar were unavailable for comment.

This article originally appeared on Campaign UK