JWT has expressed its “disappointment” at losing Vegemite’s creative account to independent agency Thinkerbell.

As revealed on B&T yesterday, Thinkerbell snared the Vegemite (and parent company Bega’s) creative account away from JWT following a 74 year association, believed to be the longest in Australian agency history.

Commenting on the move, Ben Hill, marketing director Bega Foods, said the decision to move to a new agency was due to the brand wanting to “refresh our creative agency”. Hill adding: “Thinkerbell – a new cutting-edge Australian agency – represents everything that we want our brands to deliver.”

In a statement to media, JWT said it was “proud of the agency’s role in building one of Australia’s most iconic and loved brands”.

JWT’s statement read in full:

While we’re disappointed not to be working with Bega on the next chapter of the Vegemite journey, J. Walter Thompson is particularly proud of the agency’s role in building one of Australia’s most iconic and loved brands – we’ve been the constant during three brand-ownership changes, a shifting social landscape and reshaped breakfast category. In fact, our most recent ‘Start happy’ campaign has been highly successful in generating brand equity in what is generally a declining spreads sector.

We are proud of the fact that our relationship with Vegemite spanned more than 70 years; one of the longest and most successful agency/brand relationships in the industry.  While it’s worth noting that we were actually awarded the most recent campaign work as the result of a competitive pitch last year, the length of our relationship is testament to the ongoing effectiveness of our work for Vegemite.

It’s been a long and happy little Vegemite story for J. Walter Thompson – and we wish the brand well for its next brand chapter.