10083: Omnicom Oats.

Advertising Age reported PepsiCo’s new Quaker Oats digital AOR is—surprise, surprise—an Omnicom shop. All of Quaker Oats’ digital work is probably stored on an Omnicom server for easy access and transfer to the next AOR. Hell, Omnicom probably hired Wilford Brimley as its Curator of Poopular Culture. Quaker officials gushed, “Organic was selected because of their high-level strategic thought leadership, their emphasis on collaboration between agency partners and their passion for social media as an integral part of planning, not an afterthought.” A quick peek at the Organic website shows the shop appears to have zero food experience. But who needs category expertise when you’re in the Omnicom network?

Organic Named Digital Agency of Record for PepsiCo’s Quaker Brands

Omnicom Group Once Again Benefits From Beverage and Food Giant’s Consolidation Efforts

By E.J. Schultz

Quaker Oats Co. has named Omnicom Group’s Organic its digital agency of record as part of a larger agency-consolidation effort by parent company PepsiCo.

In a statement to Ad Age, Quaker said that the move was “part of PepsiCo’s strategic investment and productivity initiatives.” The marketer added that “Organic was selected because of their high-level strategic thought leadership, their emphasis on collaboration between agency partners and their passion for social media as an integral part of planning, not an afterthought.”

The Quaker account will be handled out of Organic’s San Francisco office. Quaker had used a variety of agencies for digital, including Resource Interactive. The agency was unavailable for comment.

Following its move to drastically cut its roster to 50 from 150 shops, PepsiCo has consolidated much of its work at Omnicom agencies. The beverage and food giant and the holding company have a long relationship, which these recent changes to PepsiCo’s agency strategy have bolstered further.

In addition to Quaker, Organic will be working with holding-company siblings TBWA and BBDO on brand Pepsi projects, including the soda’s new pitchwoman, Nicki Minaj, and new digital hub, Pulse.

In March, Quaker moved creative advertising to Omnicom’s Energy BBDO, Chicago, from BBDO sibling Juniper Park in Toronto. The cereal, oatmeal and snack-bar maker spent $59.7 million in measured media on its brands in 2011, according to Kantar Media.

Quaker’s recent digital efforts include partnering with an American Express-run Facebook application, “Link, Like, Love,” that delivers deals based on Facebook likes and interests. Quaker was the first consumer packaged-goods marketer to participate in the program.

~~ Contributing: Kunur Patel