After years of working with multiple agencies on individual marketing projects, auto part retailer PartSource has named Lowe Roche its agency of record, unveiling its new campaign last week.

PartSource, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Tire, held a competitive review last summer, short-listing four agencies before giving Lowe Roche the nod in September.

"There wasn't the synergy or consistency I wanted from a brand perspective" when working with different agencies, said Steve Noble, vice-president of marketing and supply, who joined PartSource in early 2009. "Branding needs to be consistently executed at all consumer touch points, and thus the need to bring this all under one umbrella agency."

Roche won the review, Noble said, based not only on creative credentials, but because its team demonstrated strong customer relationship management skills.

The Toronto agency's size also appealed to Noble.

"We didn't want to be a small fish in a big pond," he said. "We wanted to be with an agency to whom we were meaningful. We wanted to make sure we were thought of as an important part of their client base. Lowe Roche is a smaller agency and offered the right size in terms of support."

PartSource's customer base is split fairly evenly between commercial parts buyers and retail "do-it-yourselfers."

Lowe Roche will oversee marketing to both groups, but its first campaign, currently in-market, addresses the retail market to support the Don't Freeze Your Parts Off sales event.

Television and online video ads promote a different product each week to drive sales through the winter months, when the chain's retail customers historically invest less in auto repair.

The ads tell stories of automotive woe through warning lights on car dashboards.

The ad "Getting Traction" shows transmission lights frantically switching between reverse and drive gears as a car struggles to get traction on an icy road. When viewers hear the car subsequently crash, copy appears that reads "Up to 50% off select winter products."

There are currently eight such ads. They will air exclusively on TSN.