11398: Cavalry The New Keystone Kops.

Advertising Age reported WPP’s Cavalry added more MillerCoors billings by snagging Keystone Light from Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi. The move would never have happened if Publicis Omnicom Groupe had been fully approved, as Omnicom is masterful at shifting unhappy clients to other sister agencies within the network. The new assignment for Cavalry covers creative and digital duties—which also shows that the Human Digital Agency is a farce. Finally, it must be noted that on the beverage totem pole, Keystone Light is barely a level above urine.

Cavalry’s MillerCoors Roster Grows with Keystone Light

The Economy Brand Had Been at Saatchi & Saatchi

By E.J. Schultz

WPP’s Cavalry has picked up more work from MillerCoors, winning creative and digital advertising for Keystone Light. The brand had been at Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi, which remains the agency for Miller brands, including Miller Lite.

WPP formed Cavalry about a year ago to handle creative and digital for Coors Light and Coors Banquet, as well as new products such as Redd’s Apple Ale. Coors brands had been at Interpublic’s DraftFCB, which lost the entire MillerCoors account, including Miller Lite, in May of 2012.

Keystone Light, which is positioned as an economy beer, is considered part of the Coors family of brands, so the move from Saatchi to Cavalry was a consolidation move, according to MillerCoors.

In recent years Keystone Light campaigns had featured a laid-back, everyday-hero character dubbed “Keith Stone.” But the brewer ended that effort this year.

Keith “worked very well for our entry-level drinker,” MillerCoors Chief Marketing Officer Andy England said in an interview earlier this year. But “the challenge with Keith is that he was frankly more polarizing with our … 30-something regular guy.” To get closer to that demographic the brand has formed a partnership with tournament fishing organization FLW.

But Keystone Light has gotten relatively little measured media support lately. Spending fell from $8.5 million in 2011 to $309,100 in 2012 and less than $100,000 for the first six months of 2013, according to Kantar Media.