October was a spectacular month for new business wins with some of the country’s largest accounts picking new agencies across both the creative and media sides of the ledger.
Top of the pile on the creative side was Leo Burnett’s ANZ win—a story you read first in B&T. It marks the first big scalp of new CEO Clare Pickens’ reign at the Publicis shop after she joined in April.
Over on the media side of things, there were two big bits of interconnected news. First, Innocean would be launching a media planning and buying division with three foundation clients. Second, one of those foundation clients was Hyundai—Omnicom’s Hearts and Science had been the incumbent on the account. Innocean’s parent company is Hyundai, though the agency is not directly controlled by the global auto giant.
Last time out on B&T’s New Business Winners, we ran the rule over a series of huge global wins including WPP’s mammoth Amazon win and DDB’s global extension of the VW contract. This month, there’s only one global win: Dentsu Creative picking up Adobe. But without any further ado, here’s a look at this month’s podiums.
Creative Agencies
Bronze – Ogilvy Melbourne
Coming in third this month is Ogilvy Melbourne. It picked up the creative account for Target following a competitive pitch—another story you read first in B&T. AJF Partnership was the incumbent agency, having won the account back in 2014.
While Target is a big name globally, it’s had something of a topsy-turvy time in Australia recently. Over the last five years, several of the retailer’s stores closed down and several more were folded into the Kmart brand throughout 2020 and 2021. There are currently 124 Target stores still operating in Australia.
“A number of our stores will be leaving the Target family. Some of these stores will be converting to Kmart and, sadly, some will be closing. The majority of these changes will happen this year,” Kmart said in a statement at the time. “We understand these closures will affect a lot of people in the Target community and we appreciate your patience and understanding during these challenging times. We are committed to providing every opportunity for redeployment for our team members who will be affected by these changes”.
Here’s hoping that some smart ads will help turn that around.
Silver – Dentsu Creative
Dentsu Creative had a very significant global win at the start of October. It picked up the creative and content for Adobe’s Digital Media Business (DMe), following a competitive pitch. Dentsu Creative is tasked with designing the company’s first “Glocal” [yuck] go-to-market model, designed to drive relevance, effectiveness and efficiency both globally and locally across the Americas, EMEA, APAC and Japan.
Kirsty Muddle, CEO of products + practices at Dentsu, told B&T that Dentsu’s Sydney office would be operating as the regional hub and that it represented a “big win” for the agency. The global agency will also lead product and release marketing and local campaigns for the company’s B2B and B2C creative products and services.
“As a creative team that has long relied on Adobe’s products and services to imagine, create, and bring digital experiences to life, this new partnership is meaningful in so many ways. We’re energised by Adobe’s vision to change the world through personalised experiences, and this fueled us to bring transformative thinking and creativity to every interaction. Now, we’re ready to bring that to customers everywhere through Adobe’s Digital Media Business,” said Abbey Klaassen, global brand president, Dentsu Creative.
Gold – Leo Burnett
Taking the top spot among creative agencies this month, however, is Leo Burnett. The Publicis-owned creative agency won the full creative account for ANZ bank, beating out the likes of Dentsu, The Monkeys and BMF. Incumbent Special declined to pitch. B&T revealed that Leos had won the account a couple of weeks ago.
Sian Chadwick, ANZ’s general manager, marketing said that the brand is delighted to partner with Leos. “Their proven track record in developing outstanding work and deep understanding of our industry make them an ideal partner to help us achieve our growth objectives,” she said.
“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,” Chadwick said.
Leo Burnett CEO, Clare Pickens said that is was a privilege for the agency to be selected for to partner with ANZ in a move that represents a new chapter for Leos in Australia. “This collaboration provides a unique opportunity to leverage our strategic and creative expertise and support ANZ’s brand evolution. We are excited to work closely with ANZ to develop innovative and impactful work”.
Media Agencies
Bronze – iProspect
Dentsu’s iProspect had a cracking start to October, announcing that it had been named as MYOB’s media agency of record on the very first day of the month. iProspect will support media strategy, channel planning, digital consulting and media buying.
“We started working with MYOB on a project basis and it has been immensely rewarding to see that turn into a longer-term relationship in which we can partner with MYOB to support accelerated growth,” said Marcelle Gomez, iProspect managing director.
“Achieving the right channel mix is a living, breathing program of work in this ultra dynamic media landscape, so we are delighted to have engaged with such a solid and complementary partner in iProspect,” said Dean Chadwick, chief marketing officer for MYOB.
“Harnessing intelligence to ensure our campaigns are always bang on target is a big priority. iProspect’s data-led approach maps well with MYOB’s rich understanding of the SME (small and medium-sized businesses) ecosystem and we look forward to exploring where this partnership can take us,” added Chadwick.
Silver – Zenith
Another story that you read first in B&T now. Two weeks ago, we revealed that Zenith had won the full media account for property group Stockland.
Thought to be worth around $20 million, the account had previously been held by GroupM’s EssenceMediacom but Publicis’ Zenith smuggled it away in a competitive pitch.
Stockland general manager, brand and channels, Natalie Warren-Smith told B&T: “We have had a long and valued relationship with EssenceMediacom and thank the team for their work.
“We look forward to welcoming Zenith as our new partner to deliver on the next phase of our growth strategy.”
Gold – Innocean
Taking the top spot in your first-ever new business wins is no small feat but Innocean has managed it.
Two weeks ago, Innocean announced that it had launched a media planning and buying arm, with three foundation clients. Sandhurst and Geotab were two of those launch partners but the big one (and why Innocean has snagged Gold) is Hyundai.
Hyundai spends the second-most on media of any auto brand in Australia, according to Nielsen data. Back in 2018, the account was reportedly valued at north of $50 million. Omnicom’s Hearts and Science was the incumbent on the account. It confirmed that the account had moved.
Innocean, as we mentioned earlier, is owned by Hyundai but does not take its instructions from the Korean automaker. The agency does, however, do all of Hyundai’s (and sub-brand Kia’s) creative work.
Hyundai’s director of marketing and product, Andrew Tuitahi, said: “Effective brand building relies on strong cohesion between creative and the environment it’s in. We believe that having one agency managing our creative and media is crucial to unlock further growth, effectiveness but also efficient for a lean and progressive marketing team.”
