Chiat/Day, Toronto could find itself caught in the middle of a nasty court battle involving two of its clients.
The Body Shop, which recently hired the London, Ont. office of Chiat/Day, is seeking a court injunction preventing Shoppers from running an ad comparing the drugstore chain’s Rialto Naturals body lotion with a Body Shop product.
Rialto Naturals is a four-year-old line of private label personal care products.
Shoppers relaunched the brand earlier this year, positioning it as a direct competitor to the Body Shop brand.
Shoppers declines to comment on whether it perceives Chiat/ Day’s handling of both accounts to be a conflict of interest.
Chiat/Day won the high-profile Shoppers account in an agency shoot-out about a year ago.
The Body Shop, a worldwide chain with its headquarters in the u.k., tapped Chiat/Day last month to help it explore new media opportunities, including possible use of the Internet.
Steve Hancock, Chiat/Day managing partner, contends the agency is not in a position of conflict because it works on brand and product advertising for Shoppers, while The Body Shop account is more of a consulting project.
Besides, Hancock says, The Body Shop hired Chiat/Day’s London office, not its Toronto office.
