What a month July was for new business. Over the course of the 23 working days in the month, we recorded some 40-odd global and local new business wins, as well as plenty of sizeable account retentions.
The big global moves included Omnicom nabbing Adidas’ media account and Stagwell being named IBM’s lead creative agency. The Chinese car brands, who seem to be among the most prolific pitchers in the Australian market, continued their activity, with Alt/Shift winning Jaecoo’s PR account and Optimise Media defending Zeekr’s account.
We should also give a shoutout to Havas, which won Spin Master’s media locally, and mobile game behemoth King’s global media. Havas Red, one of the French holdco’s PR agencies, won ECOVACS’ PR, Social & Influencer Work.
OMD also gets a guernsey, though sadly not a spot on the podium, after it consolidated Qantas Group’s media across APAC.
But now onto the podiums.
Creative Agencies
Bronze – Rick Barry
Indie creative agency Rick Barry makes its debut on B&T’s New Business Winner podiums after it was appointed by Tourism & Events Northern Territory (TNET).
Rick Barry established a Darwin office as part of the appointment, with work commencing immediately on brand strategy and the development of a new global brand platform.
The appointment followed a formal tender process launched earlier this year. TENT called on agencies to pitch for the brand refresh project.
Dozens of prospective tenderers were listed, including incumbent, KWP+Partners, as well as Howatson+Company, Leo, TBWA, WPP, Today The Brave, Havas and a host of others.
“The Northern Territory is a wellspring of rich storytelling, artistic talent and unique culture. We couldn’t imagine a better place to open our second home. From the Top End to the Red Centre, it’s the heart and soul of the Australian experience,” said Rick Barry co-founder Hugh Munro.
“It’s a place that rewards people who lean in and live it for themselves, we couldn’t be happier to be heading north with the team.”
“It was a highly competitive pitch, with several top Australian agencies presenting impressive ideas and approaches. We were especially impressed by their understanding of what it takes to build a distinctive brand that can cut through in highly competitive global markets,” said Tourism and Events NT CMO Staci Mellman
“Our values are very much aligned, and so too is our desire for unorthodox, impactful thinking. The Rick Barry team demonstrated a proven ability to engage stakeholders throughout the brand-building process, bringing diverse voices together to create brands that people genuinely believe in and champion.
Silver – Thinkerbell
What’s better than winning a new client? Bringing and old one back into the fold, we reckon. And last month, Thinkerbell managed exactly that, winning the BWS and Dan Murphy’s creative accounts.
The latter had previously been a Thinkerbell client before Endeavour Group (Dan’s and BWS’ parent) consolidated the account with BMF.
“Throughout the review process, Thinkerbell stood out for their unique blend of ‘measured magic’, and combining rigorous consumer insight with outstanding creative ambition,” Endeavour Group’s chief customer officer Catriona Larritt said.
“Their model is perfectly aligned with our strategic vision, and we are confident that their collaborative approach will help drive the next phase of customer and data-led growth for our brands.”
Thinkerbell CEO Margie Reid was cock-a-hoop following the decision.
“So to now partner with Endeavour across both Dan Murphy’s and BWS is a real privilege,” she said.
“These are retail brands that sit at the heart of how Australians come together, the barbecues, the birthdays, and the Friday knock-offs. The team at Endeavour are seriously ambitious business people, and we are delighted they’ve trusted us to help write the next chapter.”
Gold – Droga5
The top spot, however, was unsurprisingly reserved for Droga5 after it won Woolworths’ creative account.
The agency succeeds long-term partner M+C Saatchi, which decided not to re-pitch for the account, estimated to be worth $8 million annually.
Droga5 will join an agency village that includes Everyday Rewards partner TBWA\Australia and the media agency Dentsu.
Sean Barrett, Woolies’ new CMO, told The Australian the supermarket giant looked forward to working with Droga5 to “build distinct, meaningful work for our brands with our immediate focus turning to working together to deliver our upcoming Christmas campaign”.
Media Agencies
Bronze – This Is Flow
Two wins in July see Jimmy Hyett’s charges take the bronze medal.
On 7 July, the agency announced it had retained the media planning and buying account for the iconic Melbourne-based Workwear Group, following a competitive agency review.
The retention sees This Is Flow continue its longstanding partnership with three of Australia’s most recognised workwear and uniform brands, KingGee, Hard Yakka and NNT.
“We’re delighted to renew our partnership with This is Flow across Hard Yakka, KingGee and NNT,” Workwear Group head of marketing Jayne Willmott said.
“They have a deep understanding of our brands and consistently bring sharp strategic thinking to how we navigate and leverage the media landscape. Their team combines strong expertise with genuine passion, and they show up with that energy in every engagement.
Later in the month, This Is Flow was appointed to manage all paid media strategy, planning and buying for Charles Sturt University following a competitive tender process.
This Is Flow took over the account from the incumbent, Merkle.
Charles Sturt University associate director, brand and performance marketing, Brooke Thompson, said of Flow’s appointment: “This is Flow consistently demonstrated strong strategic thinking and the cultural understanding required to effectively engage future students.”
The agency recently announced the $16M Cranky Health pitch win, as well as integrating Awaken’s media team and clients – such as Proximo, Amazon Ring, Fuji Film, Panasonic, and Opal Health Care into the agency. It’s been some couple of months for the North Sydney team.
Silver – EssenceMediacom
EssenceMediacom takes the silver this month after, like This Is Flow, defending one client and winning a new one.
It successfully defended the APAC account for Uber and Uber Eats, thought to be worth more than $200 million in media billings. The account spans Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
EssenceMediacom last defended the account in 2023, which led to Uber’s APAC media being hubbed from Sydney.
“We’re incredibly proud to continue our partnership with Uber across APAC,” EssenceMediacom’s CEO Pippa Berlocher said.
Lee Walsh, global head of media at Uber, added “[EssenceMediacom’s] deep local market expertise, strong strategic thinking, and clear understanding of our business stood out throughout the process. We were particularly impressed by their vision for how data, technology and AI can help accelerate our next phase of growth.”
A few days prior, it won Michael Hill’s media account across Australia, New Zealand and Canada, following a competitive review.
The agency succeeds OMD, which decided not to defend the account. The media billings are estimated to be worth around $25 million each year.
“EssenceMediacom and the broader WPP team brought an exciting vision for how media, data, technology and creativity can work together to create stronger customer experiences and drive commercial growth. We look forward to partnering with them as we continue to strengthen the Michael Hill brand across Australia, New Zealand and Canada,” said Michael Hill CMO Jo Feeney.
Gold – Publicis Groupe
Taking the gold this month, however, is the Publicis Groupe.
At the start of the month, B&T revealed that Samsung awarded its media account to Publicis Groupe. Clemenger BBDO had been the incumbent on Samsung’s media and creative. The creative portion of the account was given to Cheil. Samsung Group owns 28 per cent of Cheil.
Samsung spends around $120 million on media billings in Australia. B&T understands that Publicis Groupe will create a bespoke ‘Power of One’ team to work on the Samsung account. Globally, the Samsung unit is called ‘Publicis Constellation’.
Publicis Groupe ANZ CEO Michael Rebelo said: “We’re thrilled to partner with Samsung at a particularly exciting time for both organisations. We look forward to bringing the full power of Publicis Groupe Australia’s connected capabilities to help unlock growth across the entire Samsung Australia enterprise.”
