Fast-food chain Sonic, perhaps best known for those series of chatty drive-in ads, has appointed Zenith Media as its media agency of record. The media review was launched Oct. 11 and Zenith beat out fellow finalists Maxus, Chicago and Universal McCann, Detroit in the pitch.

In a statement, Sonic’s CMO Danielle Vona sounds happy with the efforts of the aforementioned shops, saying, “The finalist agencies did an outstanding job of demonstrating their unique capabilities and applying their team’s talents and expertise to Sonic’s media needs. Zenith was selected based on their superior planning and buying expertise with great insights into our brand and target, as well as the quality of their team.”

Zenith counts other clients including Verizon, Chase, Toyota/Lexus, Nestle and 20^th Century Fox. Meanwhile, Sonic’s creative review finals will occur late January/early Feb, with the winner expected to be announced some time in the latter month. As for its other accounts, the Oklahoma-born brand selected Euro RSCG Discovery for menus, POS and packaging, Lopez Negrete for Hispanic, Barkley for public relations and cause marketing, and C3 for the comapny’s children’s program.

Sonic’s media AOR duties were previously handled by Barkley.