Dive Brief:

• Revlon announced that is has named a new in-house agency called The Red House as its global agency of record, per Ad Age. The beauty brand previously worked with WPP's Grey for a year, and the two decided to mutually end their partnership when the shop's contract ended in June, a Grey spokesperson clarified to Marketing Dive.   
• On an earnings call this week, Revlon reported a 6% revenue decline over the last quarter, missing Wall Street analysts' forecasts. President and CEO Debra Perelman blamed the miss on production issues and a "consumption decline," according to Ad Age.
• E-commerce sales for Revlon color cosmetics grew 30%, executives said on the call. The company also saw a 15% decline in fragrance last quarter, but 5% growth for its Elizabeth Arden brand and 3% growth for its Almay brand. 

Dive Insight:

Revlon's decision to opt for an in-house agency over a traditional shop like Grey comes as the marketer plans to ramp up a focus on its areas of strength, like e-commerce, as well as digital marketing, data and analytics. The beauty and cosmetics marketer has also established an incubator for creating new brands that have drummed up consumer interest, like Flesh Beauty, as well as supporting its existing ones.  

"We recognize the dynamics that play in our industry and across the market with the increase of [e-commerce] and the migration of media consumption to the digital mobile space," Perelman said on the earnings call. "We are moving quickly and implementing our comprehensive digital transformation where we have assembled the technology, processes and the right level of talent and bandwidth to build capabilities that are off critical importance now and in the future." 

It's interesting that Revlon is departing with Grey in the midst of such a transformation, as the agency has been attempting to offer more services around digital technology and data. Earlier this month, Grey launched Grey Consulting, which focuses on business and brand design, innovation and digital transformation. Leo Rayman, who has led Grey London since 2016, is CEO of the new consulting services arm. 

Traditional agencies' struggles with adopting and implementing marketing technology has become a sore spot for many brands clients. Eighty-four percent of surveyed multinational marketers report agencies struggle with technology, according to a recent report by the World Federation of Advertisers and Observatory International, which has led to an uptick in reviews. On the call, Perelman said that The Red House will help Revlon drive cost efficiencies and support content creation.