Valvoline Names Hill Holliday as Agency of Record

Hill Holliday, a full-service marketing and communications agency has been awarded Creative and Strategy AOR for Valvoline after a multi-agency pitch. Valvoline is a manufacturer and distributor of Valvoline-brand automotive oil, additives, and lubricants and operates and franchises approximately 1,600 automotive service centre locations in the US and Canada. Hill Holliday will be working with both of Valvoline’s business segments, Global Products and Retail Services, beginning  December 1st. 

“We believe Hill Holliday’s strategic approach and creativity aligns perfectly with our two business segments and reflects our ambitions for growth moving forward,” said Heidi Matheys, senior vice president, chief marketing and transformation officer for Valvoline. “From the start we have been impressed with their level of insights and strategy to help us deliver against our objectives.”

“Valvoline is one of the world’s most iconic brands and we couldn’t be more excited about the future of their businesses.” stated Chris Wallrapp, president of Hill Holliday. “We’re honoured to work with such an incredibly talented team. The great chemistry between our organisations was apparent early on and led us to an approach we’re all really excited about.”

The announcement concludes a creative review led by search consultant Matt Ryan of Roth Ryan Hayes.

This marks the first new business win, for Icaro Doria who joined the agency as chief creative officer this year. A 25-year veteran of the industry, Doria’s experience working with brand champions is diverse, ranging from Coca Cola and Diageo to Nike, Hilton Hotels, Carl’s Jr’s, Hardees, Old Spice, Heineken and many others, including Hall of Famer and late basketball legend Kobe Bryant on several projects, from Kobe's 20th year with the NBA to an initiative aimed at-risk kids in sports.

The Valvoline win is an important addition to Hill Holliday’s diverse and expansive portfolio of clients, which includes BMW Motorrad, Santander, Boar’s Head, Strategic Education Inc. and Frontier Communications among others. In addition, the agency has experienced impressive growth after launching its healthcare practice bringing on four new client companies and seven new brands in CNS, oncology, women’s healthcare, and ophthalmology. Hill Holliday Health’s clients include Novartis, J&J, Lundbeck, Regeneron, and Intra-Cellular Therapies.