12741: Travelocity Traveling.

Adweek reported Travelocity will jettison its White advertising agency—and probably the White gnome created by the shop too. Travelocity VP and General Manager Brad Wilson wrote, “In the hyper-competitive online travel space, breaking through the clutter with both a trusted brand and a fresh consumer message is of paramount importance. By reviewing our creative agency of record, we are ensuring that Travelocity can continue to effectively perform on both of these dimensions.” Wow, let’s hope Wilson doesn’t try to write the fresh consumer message on his own—because anything he typed would be hyper-shitty, breaking wind with paramount poopiness in all dimensions.

Travelocity Wants to Replace the Agency That Created the Roaming Gnome

Splits with McKinney, launches review

By Noreen O’Leary

The Roaming Gnome is looking for a new home. Travelocity launched a creative review to replace McKinney, which has done two tours of duty working for the online travel agency.

The Cheil agency, which created the popular gnome spokescharacter, originally won the account in 2003 and worked on it until 2010, when it moved to Leo Burnett and Razorfish. Two years later, the account moved back to McKinney without a review.

Travelocity said it has already shortlisted a number of agencies and will not be accepting any unsolicited proposals.

The travel company said it launched the agency review in light of a consolidating online travel industry and increasingly complex travelers. In an internal email, Brad Wilson, Travelocity vp and general manager, explained the decision.

“In the hyper-competitive online travel space, breaking through the clutter with both a trusted brand and a fresh consumer message is of paramount importance,” he wrote. “By reviewing our creative agency of record, we are ensuring that Travelocity can continue to effectively perform on both of these dimensions.”

Earlier this year, Expedia acquired Travelocity after signing a 2013 marketing agreement that called for it to run much of Travelocity’s operations, with the exception of marketing. Post-acquisition, Expedia has pledged to retain the Travelocity brand, alongside Expedia’s other consumer sites like Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Trivago, Venere, eLong, and CarRentals.com.