Four agencies are in the hunt for Commonwealth Bank’s creative account — one of Australia’s largest agency reviews this year, B&T understands.
The incumbent M+C Saatchi is joined by Droga5, Special and Howatson+Company in a closely guarded pitch process that is at the chemistry stage.
All of the agencies involved declined to comment and are under strict NDAs, but sources with knowledge of the process confirmed the make up of the list.
CommBank did not respond to B&T at the time of publishing, but previously said the bank is “considering a range of partnerships”.
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.
The winner will likely be determined by CommBank’s marketing chief Jo Boundy, who this week shed light on what the bank hopes to achieve as a sponsor of the Brisbane Olympic Games.
Westpac not with Droga5
Droga5’s inclusion in the CommBank shortlist contradicts a recent trade press report that Westpac had hired the agency when it parted ways with BMF. Westpac currently does not have a creative agency.
B&T understands Droga5 was never on the roster, though Accenture Song more broadly works with Westpac in a number of areas.
Westpac’s chief marketer and B&T CMO Power List inductee Michelle Klein did appoint Droga5 and Accenture Song to lead creative and a number of transformation initiatives when she led NRMA Insurance’s marketing.
The banks have ratcheted up their advertising activity in the past year, according to Nielsen Intel data. Advertising spend surged by 20 per cent last year to $756 million, with Westpac topping the spending charts and CommBank coming second.
