Local work for large clients – does it happen?

I ran across an article yesterday on Adweek’s website, noting that Supervalu has shifted some of the work for its chains to a new agency. While this happens on a daily basis, and I wouldn’t normally take too much notice of it, part of the article got my attention:

Interpublic Group’s Dailey in West Hollywood, Calif., takes over on the Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s/Star Market properties. Independent Duncan & Associates in Los Angeles had handled those accounts.

So here we have Dailey & Associates in West Hollywood, California, taking over the portion of the Albertsons business that Supervalu purchased back in June. This portion of their business was previously handled by Duncan & Associates, in Los Angeles, California. For those keeping track, Albertsons was founded in, and had their corporate headquarters located in Boise, Idaho.

This got me thinking — when was the last time that an agency in Idaho handled any significant amount of business from Albertsons? Ever? Sure, there are piece-meal projects that likely pass through the local shops, but they come no where close to the $137 million in media alone that Albertsons ($100M), Acme ($20M), Jewel-Osco ($15M) and Shaw’s ($2M) spent in the last year and a half.

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