Initiative Wins Sonos Media Business

Sonos-player

Sonos, the maker of wireless music systems, has selected Initiative, a unit of IPG Mediabrands, to handle media chores after a review, the client and agency confirmed Friday.

The client’s annual spending on ads is estimated at $20 million. The new appointment places responsibility for all media planning, buying and digital marketing efforts with Initiative. The account will be managed out of the agency’s Los Angeles office and will be overseen by John Nuzzi, executive vice president, managing director-West Coast and head of Initiative’s entertainment unit.

The incumbent on the business was the independent media shop Crossmedia, which stated that it declined to participate in the review. 

The award comes as the 10-year-old client has boosted efforts to enable its systems to stream music, radio, podcasts and other audio services from around the world. Last year, it cut a deal with Spotify that enables access to the digital music service in the U.S. via Sonos systems. The two firms earlier struck an accord that gave European users of Sonos systems access to the Spotify service.

advertisement

advertisement

The client has deals with numerous other audio content providers, including Aupeo, Pandora, Rhapsody, Wolfgang’s Vault, National Public Radio, and CNN, among many others. The Sonos systems also enable remote control capability from Android smartphone devices, as well as from Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

Sonos is a privately held company with venture capital backing. In addition to its Santa Barbara headquarters, it has offices in Cambridge, Mass., Hilversum, Netherlands, Shenzen, China, and Penang, Malaysia.

For Initiative, the Sonos award is the shop’s second confirmed new business win in the U.S. this year. In January, the agency won media planning, buying and digital marketing duties for movie distributor Roadside Attractions. Estimated annual ad spending by Roadside falls in the $15 million to $20 million range.

Earlier this week, Initiative was named the lead media shop for consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser in Germany -- an assignment covering an estimated $230 million in ad spending on Reckitt products in that country.

Next story loading loading..