Commonwealth Bank has appointed Howatson+Company as its new external creative agency partner following a competitive pitch process.
CommBank said the appointment reflects its continued focus on evolving how it connects with customers in a rapidly changing technology and media landscape, while building on the success and legacy of the bank’s long running ‘Can’ brand platform.
Howatson+Company will work alongside CommBank’s in-house agency team to lead brand strategy and creative direction, while partnering closely with the bank’s marketing teams on campaigns across the business.
Jo Boundy, CommBank CMO and longstanding member of B&T’s CMO Power List, said customer expectations are changing rapidly, requiring brands to evolve how they create more connected, relevant and effective communications and experiences.
“CommBank has a strong legacy of creativity and brand leadership, and we’re focused on continuing to advance how we show up for our customers across every interaction and channel,” said Boundy.
“As technology and customer behaviours continue to change, we’re building a modern creative model that combines strategic thinking, creativity, speed and innovation to support our future ambitions.
“Howatson+Company demonstrated strong alignment to where we’re headed as a brand, including future ready capabilities, a collaborative partnership approach and a clear vision for modern creativity at scale.”
CommBank also acknowledged the contribution of incumbent agency M+C Saatchi, following a long term and valued partnership spanning 14 years.
“We thank M+C Saatchi for their longstanding partnership and the significant contribution they have made to the CommBank brand over many years,” said Boundy.
“The partnership has been deeply valued and has helped shape some of the most recognised and effective brand work in the category, including ‘Can’ – one of Australia’s strongest brand platforms.”
‘Doubt Never Did’, the most recent iteration of CommBank’s ‘Can’ platform was produced by M+C Saatchi.
Chris Howatson, CEO of Howatson+Company, said the agency was proud to partner with one of Australia’s most recognised brands.
“CommBank is one of the country’s most iconic and ambitious brands, with a strong commitment to creativity, innovation and customer experience.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the team to help shape the next chapter of the brand and deliver work that connects meaningfully with customers,” said Howatson.
The new partnership with Howatson+Company will commence in the first half of FY27.
The race for CommBank’s creative account was highly sought after, though the shortlist was small consisting of the aforementioned M+C Saatchi, Accenture Song’s Droga5 and B&T Agency of the Year Special.
M+C Saatchi has worked with the Commonwealth Bank since 2012, a major prize at the time for the agency.
The account is thought to be worth around $8 million in revenue and is M+C Saatchi’s second largest account after Woolworths.
WPP Media’s EssenceMediacom is the bank’s long-standing media agency and is not impacted by the creative review.
In a statement, M+C Saatchi Australia CEO Dani Bassil said: “CBA has played an incredibly important role in M+C’s story over the past 14 years. Together through CAN, we’ve created impactful work, navigated change and built a relationship grounded in trust, ambition and shared values.
“We’re deeply grateful to the many teams and people at CBA who have partnered with us over that time, and incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved together. We wish them every success in the future.”
The news is another blow for M+C Saatchi locally. It has recently lost a number of big-name clients, including Tourism Australia, and it closed its media buying arm in Australia—sending the digital to Singapore as part of M+C Saatchi Performance and nixing its offline buying capability altogether.
Last week, its national CCO Emma Robbins departed for Droga5.
B&T understands that M+C is still in the hunt for Samsung’s creative account, however.
