McCann's Fitzgerald & Co Wins Checkers And Rally's Strategic, Creative And Digital Duties

Checkers and Rally’s restaurants has selected McCann Worldgroup’s Fitzgerald & Co in Atlanta to handle strategic, creative and digital advertising responsibilities. The selection, which followed a competitive review that included multiple agencies, is effective immediately. 360i is the incumbent agency. 

The Checkers & Rally’s system, which consists of 507 franchises and 324 company-owned locations across 30 states, has been expanding rapidly, adding 37 restaurants in 2015, with plans for an additional 55 in 2016. The restaurant firm was acquired by Sentinel Capital Partners in 2014. 

Checkers & Rally's spent approximately $27 million on ads in 2014 and about $23 million for the first nine months of 2015, according to Kantar Media.

Company CMO Terri Snyder said that while the Checkers and Rally’s brand has grown significantly in recent years, “we’re now poised to jump to the next level and we were looking for a strategic and creative partner who can really bring to life what consumers love about our food and our brand. Fitzgerald developed a unique perspective on our brand and customer and presented a strategic and creative vision telling the distinctive Checkers & Rally’s story. They also impressed us with the way they work together and involved us in their thinking.” 

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Checkers & Rally’s Restaurants, Inc. began as two separate but similar restaurant concepts -- Checkers and Rally’s. In 1999 the brands were merged into a single system. Today the brand generates $800 million in annual system-wide sales, with notable strength in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.  

Matt Woehrmann, CEO of Fitzgerald & Co, said: "Throughout this review, we met great people, found terrific chemistry and had a lot of fun digging into the unique spot Checkers & Rally’s has in the category…The win is also a gratifying demonstration of the momentum of our growing and evolving team of talent at Fitzco.”  

The shop is not new to the restaurant category. It recently won creative duties for the Italian restaurant chain Carrabba’s and its first work for that client is breaking now. The agency has also done work for Atlanta-based pizza restaurant Mellow Mushroom.

 

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