Why StarKist Put Its Entire Marketing Business Into One Agency's Hands

StarKist, the canned tuna brand with more than 100 years of history, has consolidated all of its marketing into a single agency, Tombras, instead of spreading the work across multiple shops — a move meant to strengthen its well-known name, its iconic Charlie the Tuna mascot, and rising demand for protein products.

According to Michael Merritt, the company's VP of marketing and innovation, StarKist works with a far smaller ad budget than the large conglomerates it competes against, even as nearly every category — from baked goods to candy — tries to muscle into the protein market. "We have limited resources, and we want to operate as efficiently as possible," Merritt said.

Tombras president Dooley Tombras points to a growing trend toward the single-agency model: "Clients intuitively see the benefit of integration." In his view, when one agency handles brand strategy, creative development, media planning, and social management together, it becomes far easier to react quickly to cultural moments — there's no time lost coordinating between separate agencies.

Tombras cites an example from its own work: the agency used U.S. congressional hearings on "unidentified aerial phenomena" to build an "invitation to aliens" campaign for candy brand MoonPie, which generated more than 1 billion earned media impressions. "The integrated model has another advantage — it raises accountability. If something doesn't work, the creative agency can't blame the media plan, and the media agency can't blame the creative idea. It's all under one roof — there's nowhere to hide," Tombras said.

For StarKist, the strategy centers on reintroducing Charlie the Tuna to a new generation of consumers — the company plans to activate the character on social media by reacting to cultural moments or commenting on other brands' posts. Merritt said the fall integrated campaign will span CTV, online video, social, and digital channels, positioning StarKist tuna as a convenient, ready-to-eat protein source.