• Ad Age, Friday, November 23, 2007 12:45 PM

Jenny Craig has tapped WPP Group's Y&R in Irvine, Calif. to be its new ad agency following a review--dumping sibling JWT, New York from the account. "Although we have a great deal of respect for JWT, we felt we needed ... incremental strength in the area of direct response and celebrity management," says Scott Parker, vice president-marketing for the weight-loss company. He adds that Jenny also wanted a shop closer to its Southern California base: "We are in a very volatile business and we need people on the ground here all the time." And Y&R, along with general-agency services, also has offices for direct-response unit Wunderman nearby.

Parker says media spending on the account is about $55 million, but Jenny Craig spent $23 million in measured media for the first six months of this year and $36 million last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The account shift is not likely to change the company's celebrity strategy, Parker says, which has been working very well--doubling the amount of active dieters on the program to about 500,000 since actress Kirstie Alley became its spokeswoman. And when she left, Jenny Craig kept the interest up by signing on Valerie Bertinelli--and some recent spots feature both women.

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