The end of the year is often time for reflecting on the course of the year—though largely because December is such a whirlwind of lunches and drinks.
Here at B&T, we like to spend December reminiscing about which agencies have performed the best over the course of the last 12 months, and see if it marries up with the quality and quantity of plonk we receive (so far, so good, if you’re wondering).
Now, a note, in the year-end round-up, we separate media agencies into holding company and independent shops. Why? There have been a number of significant global media wins this year, the kind of accounts that indie shops aren’t really able to pitch on. The strength of a creative agency, meanwhile, lies in the power of its ideas, as much as it does with the sprawling teams around the world.
As ever, we prefer a medium-sized win over big retention for the purposes of this list.
We’ve also been very fortunate to have some help from our friends at COMvergence to help track media agency wins over the course of the year. The lists below will appear similar to anyone who perused our story covering COMvergence’s Q1-3 new business winners on Friday, though they are not exactly the same.
But without any further ado, here are B&T’s best new business agencies in 2024.
Creative agencies
Before we get into the top three, there are some honourable mentions that we need to give.
Thinkerbell had a strong year, winning Hort Innovation in February, GWM in July and Pringles in December last year.
BMF’s big win this year was Endeavour Group, stealing the consolidated account from Thinkerbell in July. CHEP won the Spirit of Tasmania and Bupa accounts in March and August, respectively. Though it is the lead agency on Bupa’s roster, rather than the agency of record.
Our overall Agency of the Year at the B&T Awards, Akcelo, also had a strong new business year, winning SPC Global in February and Red Bull in April.
Bronze – Special
Special Australia had a very productive new business year in 2024. Its largest wins were Cricket Australia and IGA, in May and then June. Special was tasked with creating a unifying idea for the international series of cricket happening right now(!). Though all it really needs to do is put images of Travis Head arguing with Mohammed Siraj on a billboard and job’s a good’un.
Its IGA win in June was important. There has rarely been a better time to have a supermarket client that isn’t Woolies or Coles. Plus, if Special can make its relationship with the grocer as productive as BMF’s with Aldi, Special might walk away with even more trophies. Its Employment Hero and Lottery Corporation wins, while smaller, are still very important.
Silver – Leo Burnett
The team at Leo Burnett has been on something of a journey recently. New CEO Clare Pickens joined in April and has already notched some very impressive wins.
In October, B&T revealed that Leos had won the ANZ account in a hotly contested pitch that featured Dentsu, The Monkeys and BMF, though not incumbent Special.
“Leo Burnett’s exceptional strategic and creative capabilities, as well as their collaborative approach stood out to ANZ through the tender process. The agency’s alignment with ANZ’s vision underscores the bank’s commitment to delivering compelling marketing initiatives that resonate with a diverse customer base in an increasingly competitive environment,” said Sian Chadwick, ANZ’s general manager, marketing.
Then last month, Leos was appointed as the lead creative agency for Suncorp across all of its brands starting in 2025.
This marked the end of Suncorp’s long-standing partnership with WPP, which spanned over 20 years, with Ogilvy Melbourne previously handling AAMI, GIO, Vero, and, more recently, creative production through Hogarth.
It’s a cracking couple of wins for Pickens and the team.
Gold – Accenture Song
There could only be one winner, however, and, as is often the case, it’s Accenture Song. With The Monkeys now the Australian outpost of Droga5, there’s also far more integration between the team here and the team based in New York.
Its first big win in 2024 was NRMA Insurance in March. The announcement also won the coveted B&T Award for largest group photo as part of a press release—an impressive 11, for those counting at home.
“Our partnership with Accenture Song is the next step in reimagining the customer experience, by delivering an end-to-end customer model leveraging best-in-class creative, communication and technology,” said NRMA Insurance chief customer and marketing officer, Michelle Klein.
“At the heart of this approach is a focus on meeting our customers where they are and ensuring that every interaction is a helpful and seamless one. This new model aligns with our broadcast partnership with Nine of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will be a powerful launch platform to connect with our audiences at scale.”
Since then, the pair have repositioned the brand, launched a brand new landmark campaign and more. And there’s still plenty more to come.
The other big Accenture Song win was, of course, Tourism Australia. It was one of the most hotly contested pitches this year with bids from Clemenger Group and Publicis. B&T understands that incumbent M&C Saatchi partnered with B&T Advertising Agency of the Year Howatson+Company but still couldn’t win the day. It is understood that for both the NRMA Insurance pitch and Tourism Australia, Accenture Song flew global CEO David Droga in from the US, which is some trump card.
In July, it was announced that Accenture Song and Droga5 (which is part of Accenture Song) had been appointed to provide Tourism Australia’s creative and digital services for five years from July 2024.
“During the tender process Accenture Song, along with The Monkeys and Droga5, proved they were best placed to provide Tourism Australia with the integrated global creative and digital services we need. We look forward to working with them to showcase the best Australia has to offer to the world,” said Tourism Australia Managing Director, Phillipa Harrison.
Holding company media agencies
Now onto media. GroupM occupies two of the top three but before we get to the podium, there are some honourable mentions.
UM’s Federal Government Master Media Account retention was one of the biggest stories of the year, plus its smaller Levi’s and Target wins, worth around $US8 million ($AU12 million) together according to COMvergence aren’t to be sniffed at. However, its Nestle, Spotify and Intuit losses would have stung.
Similarly, PHD notched a very impressive string of retentions (VW, Asahi and Porsche to name but three) but its Spotlight retail loss, with the account valued at some $AU85 million by COMvergence, meant it missed a spot on the podium.
Bronze – EssenceMediacom
Third place went to B&T‘s Media Agency of the Year, EssenceMediacom. In June, the GroupM agency won the Queensland Government account, worth in excess of $AU70 million, according to COMvergence.
On winning the business, a jubilant Kellie Dawson, the agency’s Brissie managing director, said that the team “could not be more excited to continue our deep and long-standing relationship with Queensland Government.”
In August, Pippa Berlocher’s team also took home the Specsavers account. It was one of the most interesting pitches of the year, with marketing boss Shaun Briggs putting it out to a completely open pitch for anyone to take a stab at. EssenceMediacom beat out incumbent Initiative for the account worth nearly $AU50 million, according to COMvergence.
Throughout the pitch process, the team showed their strategic thinking, media expertise, and data and tech capability. “They combined their intelligence with a passion for our business that really resonated with our team,” said Briggs.
Silver – Zenith
Zenith (along with the other Publicis media agencies) has continued its impressive new business run into 2024. Publicis won the Spotify account earlier this year and B&T understands that Zenith is an important part of the account locally.
In December 2023 (so just technically sneaking into this judging period), it won Superloop. In October, B&T revealed that it had won Stockland.
“We’re thrilled to be working with the talented team at Zenith, leveraging their media capability, strategy, proven operational efficiency, and building on the insightful creative delivered by our friends at Leo Burnett,” said Superloop chief marketing officer, Ben Colman.
Over the course of the year, Zenith also racked up wins with Arrotex, Midea, Yorkshire Tea and more. All told, it was the won the second-most new business (excluding retentions) of any holding company agency in Australia behind our Gold medal winner below.
Gold – Mindshare
CEO Maria Grivas has led Mindshare to some staggering new business success over the course of 2024. In total, it racked up $US54 million of new business, excluding retainers this year.
Its biggest win was Nestlé, valued at some $US35 million by COMvergence (around $AU55 million), from UM. GroupM’s OpenMind solution played an important role in the win, too.
“They really understood what we were looking for and created the digital and tech spine that we needed, which is quite an amazing custom built piece of tech, which is AI enabled. I think it’s going to be a game changer for us,” Nestlé’s Oceania director of marketing and communications, Anneliese Douglass, told B&T earlier this year.
But it also won Foot Locker (around $AU12 million), Nova (around $AU7.8 million) and the Labor Party in WA and Tassie, worth around $AU3 million together.
“We are incredibly proud of the success we have had in our new business growth in 2024 across Sydney and Melbourne,” Mindshare CEO Maria Grivas told B&T last week.
Independent media agencies
From the indies, however, a top trio stood well ahead of any rivals. In fact, Nunn Media amassed new billings worth three times as much as the nearest rival—Match & Wood.
Bronze – Nunn Media
Nunn Media had one big, big win in 2024. Back in January, it won the $AU85 million-rated Spotlight Retail Group account from PHD.
As well as the Spotlight brand, the account covers the Anaconda, Mountain Designs and Harris Scarfe accounts too.
“After assessing three agencies to raise the standard of media campaigns for SRG brands, it’s clear Nunn Media is the ideal partner moving forward. It’s an agency that brings scale, offers all capabilities we require, understands our marketing ambitions and our desired mix of channels,” said Quentin Gracanin, CEO of Spotlight.
Nunn Media did lose Levi’s to UM and GWM/Haval to our second place agency below.
Silver – Atomic 212°
Atomic walked away with two listings on B&T’s monthly New Business Winners roundup this year in September and November.
Its BlueScope and GWM/Haval wins, both worth in the region of $AU22-23 million, were certainly important for the country’s largest indie to keep on trucking.
“After a sustained period of growth, GWM is ready to take the next step towards becoming one of the region’s leading auto brands and after meeting with Atomic 212°, it became clear that they had the necessary tools, people and experience to help us with this exciting challenge,” said GWM’s head of marketing and communications, Steve Maciver.
In fact, it won the GWM/Haval account from Nunn Media. It pinched Bluescope from Slingshot. Atomic had seven further wins over the course of 2024, with a combined value estimated to be around $AU16.65 million.
Gold – Half Dome
This year’s biggest winning indie media agency, however, is none other than Half Dome. The agency notched some $40 million in total new business in 2024—behind only some of the country’s biggest holding company agencies.
“What these results show is that tripling down on the calibre of our work, and delivering real world results for the clients we already work with, is a magnet for like-minded, growth focussed organisations. We plan to carry this momentum into 2025, delivering growth off the back of a similar laser focus on existing Half Dome clients,” said Half Dome founder and head of growth Joe Frazer.
Half Dome’s biggest wins included the more than $AU33 million OES account, with Initiative the incumbent. It notched another sizeable win in the telecommunications space.
It also had two smaller wins that landed nearly another $AU10 million in billings. In fact, Half Dome only lost one piece of business—Maurice Blackburn Lawyers to Match & Wood.
And that’s that! We’ll see you all same time, same place next year for more new business goodness.
