2025 AGENCY SCORECARDS
Saatchi & Saatchi
Team PROFILE
Agency type
creative agency
Ownership
Publicis Groupe
tagline
Nothing is Impossible
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Patrick Rowe
TEAM CAPTAIN
Rachel Walker
Chief Strategy Officer
Mandie van der Merwe
chief creative officer
avish gordhan
chief creative officer
Toby Aldred
Managing Director
KEY STATS
offices
melbourne, sydney
HEADCOUNT
110+
gender balance
Total: 52% female, 48% male.
Leadership team: 57% female, 43% Male
CLIENT WINS
6
CLIENT RETENTIONS
0
LARGEST CLIENTS
Arnott's
Toyota
Vodafone
TROPHY CABINET
Effies
3
WARC awards
1
B&T's season report
Saatchi & Saatchi kicked off 2024 with fresh leadership and a fire in its belly. New chief creative officers Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan came out swinging with a hilarious and uniquely Australian ad for Toyota HiLux.
Backed by a broader lineup of culturally sharp campaigns for NRMA, Arnott’s, Heineken and Cancer Council, the agency proved it could play across codes—brand, retail, behaviour change—and still win.
Strategically, it kept the scoreboard ticking over with new business momentum, winning Youfoodz, TPG Business and expanding the scope of its work with Toyota. It also brought in a solid haul of effectiveness metal and WARC recognition for Arnott’s.
The creative leadership team was in high demand on the speaker circuit and judging panels, keeping the good Saatchi name in the spotlight.
But it wasn’t all clean passes and easy goals. While the agency reported a reduced gender pay gap (7.7 per cent) and strong equity programs under Publicis Groupe, it did not provide key diversity stats at leadership or entry levels and remained relatively quiet on retention and churn.
Ultimately, the systems are in place, but it’ll need to be more transparent about outcomes if they want to lead the league.
Still, Saatchi & Saatchi brought passion, polish and pedigree to 2024. With a refreshed team, clear momentum and a string of standout plays under its belt, it’s ready for another strong season in 2025.
campaign HIGHLIGHTS REEL
Toyota, ‘Surprise’
In 2024, Saatchi & Saatchi redefined the Toyota Camry with a sleek, tech-loaded Hybrid Electric model, showcased in a comedic film where a rockstar mistakes it for his luxury ride, proving the Camry is still built for families, but stylish enough to fool the A-list.
Toyota, ‘In A Pickle’
In 2024, we had to remind Australia that the Toyota HiLux’s legendary reliability was more important than the new features our competitors were advertising. So we told the story of a HiLux saving the day when other vehicles couldn’t. Two HiLux-driving heroes rescue one vehicle after another from a muddy bog, which come out like chain of kerchiefs being pulled from a magician’s hat. They also casually rip out the tree stump, the root cause of the whole pickle. In spinning a classic Aussie fable, we reminded everyone of a simple fact: you don’t send a ute to do a HiLux job. We also added to cannon of classic HiLux advertising with a nod to arguably the most iconic HiLux of all time; Bugger.
Cancer Council and the Department of Health ‘End The Trend’
Skin cancer is called our ‘national cancer’. 2,000 people die from it every year. Yet 9 in 10 young people perceive having a suntan as healthy and ‘on trend’. This has been perpetuated by influencers who glamourise it with tanning videos on social media.
It’s also deeply engrained in fashion, music and content. With a generation oblivious to traditional health campaigns, we needed to infiltrate people’s social media feeds, challenge this behaviour and encourage them to take sun protection seriously. We created a first-of-its-kind public health campaign where influencers changed the way they influence culture to #EndTheTrend of suntanning in Australia.
The campaign has been effective in changing behaviour of a generation and the reimagining of the iconic ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’ by Indigenous rapper JK47 was recognised with an ARIA.
Saatchi & Saatchi's ANALYSIS
2024 was another year of achieving even more impossibles. With new strategic and creative leadership, our team made an immediate impact launching one of the of the most loved ads of 2024, with Hilux ‘In a Pickle.’
Our work with The NRMA saw a surge in Roadside Assistance memberships, we infiltrated social media feeds to challenge influencer culture to #EndTheTrend of suntanning in Australia, and our work with Arnott’s was ranked the #3 most effective Australian campaign by WARC.
We were busy.
Busy creating, judging, welcoming new clients, supporting existing clients through industry-wide challenges and importantly, having fun.
mvp award
Claire Thompson - Group Account Director
‘A star who constantly amazes with her ability to nurture her team, drive creative thinking, grow clients and win Effies all while fighting cancer. She is an inspiration.’
B&T's agency score
Saatchi & Saatchi: 8
COACH's COMMENT:
Strong form, sharp thinking and proven impact, but there’s room to tighten the defence on transparency.
