• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, January 13, 2016

Medifast, Inc., Maryland marketer of weight-loss products and programs, has awarded Baltimore-based GKV with assignments to handle media planning and buying and social media duties.

The shop has served as the client’s creative AOR since 2014. The initial scope of work included market research, strategic planning, branding, creative (for TV, radio, print and digital) and direct response.

Previously, Medifast, headquartered in Owings Mills, MD, did not have an AOR relationship with an ad agency.

The client indicated that it did not have AOR incumbents for media or social either; instead, it's using what it termed “a combination of partners and internal resources.”

Medifast ad spending totaled $12.7 million during the first nine months of 2015 versus $15 million in the first nine months of 2014, a decrease of about 15.3%, according to the company’s third quarter 10Q filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Ad spending for full-year 2014 was $17 million, down from $22.1 million in 2013.

The company has stated in financial reports that ad spending has been reduced to shore up the bottom line in the face of declining revenues. For the first nine months of 2015 revenues were down 5% to $211.4 million.

“The addition of the media planning and buying and social media capabilities to the work GKV already does for Medifast is a natural evolution of our partnership,” said Brian Kagen, Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer of Medifast. “We look forward to working with GKV on the integration of the creative campaign work alongside media planning and social strategy to deliver a comprehensive go-to-market approach.”

Added Roger L. Gray, Chairman and CEO of GKV: “The marketing successes we have achieved over the past year created a solid foundation on which to build and strengthen our relationship with Medifast.”