Pizza Hut to have new ad agency

Pizza Hut's ad agency BBDO is bowing out.

Omnicom Group's BBDO, Pizza Hut's agency of 22 years is no longer associated with the chain.

The fast food chain has identified five finalists for its advertising - Omnicom's Merkley & Partners; MDC Partners' Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners; Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi; Interpublic Group of Cos' Martin Agency and a team comprised of talent agency William Morris Endeavor and Momentum, a unit of Interpublic's McCann WorldGroup.

"After careful consideration, BBDO has decided not to participate in the US Pizza Hut review," the agency said in a statement, "For more than two decades, BBDO has partnered with Pizza Hut to help create some of the most famous and effective advertising in the category. From the record-setting successes of the Big New Yorker and Stuffed Crust Pizza, to last year's launch of Tuscani Pastas, we are proud of helping to make Pizza Hut what it is today: the leading brand in its category. We wish them the best of luck in their future efforts."

Pizza Hut chief marketing officer Brian Niccol said in a separate statement: "After 20 years of partnership, we are grateful for the work BBDO has done for us, which is among the best in the industry."

As for the finalists, Niccol said, "We have a solid lineup of five agencies that have the expertise, creativity and consumer-insights driven strategy that we are seeking as a company. . . . We are looking forward to a fresh perspective to our advertising."