• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 22, 2013

Simmons Bedding Co. has hired Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners as its new creative agency of record after a review, the agency and client have confirmed. The incumbent was Martin Williams, which parted ways with the bedding company earlier this year, shortly after the arrival of Jeff Willard as the company’s new vice president of marketing in January.

Willard has moved quickly to put his stamp on the bedding company’s marketing strategy and agency roster. In March Simmons hired WPP’s MEC to handle media planning and buying duties without a review. Willard was familiar with MEC from his days as CMO at Harman, also an MEC client. Media duties had also been handled by Martin Williams, a unit of Omnicom.

Speaking of the creative agency decision, Willard said that KBS+P’s "creativity and understanding of our brand stood out, and we were impressed by their track record for demonstrating the measurable impact of their work."

Unlike the media assessment, the creative agency evaluation was a full-blown review that took three months. Interpublic’s The Martin Agency and Cheil Group’s McKinney also participated.

The company spent around $15 million on ads for the first nine months of 2012 -- a fivefold increase over the prior year, according to Kantar. (Full-year spending was not immediately available.) And the company is expected to sharply increase its budget again this year according to sources, who say Simmons has mapped out a spending plan of $30 million and possibly more.

The added spending comes with added pressure to boost fiscal performance. Simmons ownership changed hands last year. Global private equity firm Advent International bought a majority stake in Simmons parent AOT Bedding Super Holdings, which also owns competing bedding maker Serta. Simmons was founded 140 years ago. Its bedding brands include Beautyrest and ComforPedic.