Following an internal review that Groupon head of global brand Melanie Hellenga described as a “robust process,” Groupon appointed IPG’s FCB as its global creative agency ahead of a campaign repositioning Groupon as a destination for local experiences.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Groupon as their lead creative agency to expand the perception of their brand and role they can play in the recovery as the economy reopens,” FCB Chicago president Kelly Graves said in a statement. “After being in lockdown for the past 12-18 months, people are excited to go outside, try new experiences and support local communities. And there’s no better place for customers and merchants to reconnect during this unique moment in time than Groupon.”

Groupon appointed TBWA\Chiat\Day New York as its creative agency of record at the beginning of 2020. As with many brands, Groupon’s business was disrupted by the pandemic, and Jillian Balis arrived as the company’s new CMO at the start of 2021. The company also expanded its offerings to new categories, with more of an emphasis on local offerings, particularly in beauty and wellness, and expanded its inventory to allow more flexibility for merchants on the platform.

“There was a lot of change within Groupon and the world overall and in a different place where we started to reposition the brand,” Hellenga told Adweek. “We wanted to make sure we had the right agency partner. When it came down to it, FCB was the right partner for us.”

In explaining the selection of FCB, which earned recognition as Adweek Global Agency of the Year in 2020, Hellenga cited the global network’s creative approach, collaboration, strategy and alignment with Groupon’s values and practices around DEI in the agency’s internal practices and approach to creative development, as well as a track record of strong work for global brands such as Clorox.

FCB is in the early stages of creative development, in collaboration with Groupon. The agency’s goal is to deliver a brand repositioning appealing to both consumers and merchants debuting by the end of next month to capitalize on the busy summer season. From there, the agency will work closely with Groupon to adapt its approach for an overall strategic repositioning, which Hellenga said the brand hoped would run for years. Groupon will also build on lessons in responding quickly to consumer insights from the pandemic.

“When the pandemic hit, we were very much focused on insights and data to develop marketing plans,” Hellenga explained, utilizing a “test and learn approach” to understand and quickly respond to and engage with shifts in consumer mindset and optimize an approach to recovery. “We’ve seen a lot of success with that model.”

“The agile approach is here to stay. We don’t have the benefit of understanding where the world is taking us; the last 18 months have proven that. It’s about as soon as we have signals of success, being able to scale that quickly,” she added. “It was really important to find a partner that could work that way as well.”