It was a big month in the world of pitches, with some major deals breaking news across Adland ahead of the silly season.
Indie agencies had a standout month on the creative front, with Claxon securing a full-service deal with health and wellness supplement brand First or Nothing, and Taboo named the lead creative and activation agency for the Victorian Department of Transport & Planning. New Zealand agencies also had a strong showing, with FCB Aotearoa winning the Mercury NZ creative account, while Not Another expanded its portfolio by winning Stonewood Homes, tasked with evolving the brand and launching campaigns to strengthen its competitive position.
On the media side, it was a bit quieter, but notable wins still emerged. Fur Media landed the Bondi Vet account, while SIXGUN set its sights on ocean protection, securing the social media account for the non-profit Sea Shepherd.
Last time out on B&T’s New Business Winners, it was Leo Burnett that came in first for its win of the ANZ media account – as revealed first on B&T. Over on the media side, it was Innocean that took the top spot for its deal with Hyundai.
But who came in on the podium in November?
Creative Agencies
Bronze – Special Australia
Special Australia had a significant win in November, becoming the agency of record for The Lottery Corporation’s complex portfolio of high-profile brands, which include The Lott, Keno, Powerball and Oz Lotto. The three-year appointment is set to commence in early 2025.
The appointment of Special comes after The Lottery Corporation had engaged TrinityP3 to conduct a closed review of its creative agency arrangements. VML had previously held The Lottery Corporation’s creative agency account for 13 years.
Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), The Lottery Corporation is the driving force behind Australia’s leading lottery games. Licensed to operate in every state and territory except Western Australia, its brands include The Lott and Keno. In addition to its digital apps and online platforms, The Lottery Corporation has more than 3,800 lottery outlets and 3,400 Keno venues in Australia, making it one of the largest retail operations in the country.
The Lottery Corporation general manager of marketing, Ben Johnson, said his team was excited to explore new opportunities and innovative marketing solutions with Special Group. “Throughout the pitch process, we were impressed by Special’s exceptional strategic and creative expertise, as well as their collaborative spirit,” he said.
“What truly set them apart was their culture of kindness, honesty, and simplicity – values that align with The Lottery Corporation. In addition, their ability to tap into world-class strategic and creative talent, unrestricted by geography, offers a unique advantage. We’re eager to build a robust and enduring relationship with Special that continues to drive some of Australia’s most iconic brands”.
“The team at The Lottery Corporation blew us away with their energy, smarts and ambition. Their unwavering commitment to true partnership, super high standards and more human ways of working was evident right the way through what was a great process,” said Special Australia partner and CEO Lindsey Evans.
“From the very beginning, we could feel the warmth, curiosity and collaborative spirit of the entire team. They are an incredible group of humans who want to do world-class work and have a good time doing it, so it is the perfect fit for us. We can’t wait to get started,” said Special Melbourne partner and CSO Rebecca Stambanis.
Silver – TBWA Melbourne
TBWA\Melbourne marched to glory in December, winning the Defence Force Recruiting creative account off VML as of March 2025. The key focus for the partnership will be to help recruit people to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to build, sustain, and maximise the Defence capability.
TBWA\Melbourne will spearhead all creative communications and digital services output, partnering with fellow Omnicom-owned marketing transformation and technology specialist Credera to integrate advanced data and technology solutions. CultureVerse also sits within the agency village and will use co-design methodologies to help connect with, and influence, multicultural audiences.
Kimberlee Wells, CEO, TBWA\Melbourne said “This appointment allows us to bring the best of our offering to the table, for the best of all reasons; driving recruitment for the Australian Defence Force. We’re excited to harness our deep strategic and creative capability, cutting-edge innovation and cultural intelligence tools, to deliver meaningful impact across the total brand experience. We can’t wait to get started.”
“Our team and our agency partners hold the Australian Defence Force in the highest possible regard — we always have. Being asked to use our Creative skills in service of Australia and our Nation’s strategic capability is nothing short of an honour. It’s humbling, and it’s hard to explain just how much this opportunity means to us all. We look forward to reaching new heights for recruitment and working with the incredible Australians within the ADF,” explained Paul Reardon, chief creative officer, TBWA\Melbourne.
Gold – Leo Burnett
Taking home the gold for November is Leo Burnett after being 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.
“We are extremely proud of our long-standing partnership with Ogilvy Melbourne and the broader WPP team,” said Suncorp’s executive general manager, brand and customer experience Mim Haysom. “Together we have developed iconic cultural moments and many award-winning customer campaigns, and I want to thank all those that have made our success possible over the years”.
“Following this change our objective remains to deliver industry-leading brand and creative solutions, across our diverse portfolio, to best serve our customers. We are excited and look forward to working with the Publicis Groupe to deliver on this goal”.
Publicis Groupe will also support Suncorp by applying its production platform, PXP, and other capabilities.
“To be expanding our partnership with the rest of their iconic brands is a huge testament to the Leo Burnett team,” said Michael Rebelo, CEO, Publicis Groupe ANZ. “We look forward to unleashing our production platform PXP and a range of our Publicis Groupe capabilities to support this next phase of their growth.”
Media Agencies
Bronze – Atomic 212°
Rounding out the end of a big few months for Atomic 212°, the agency was appointed to the media planning and buying account for Chargrill Charlie’s.
Part of the Craveable Brands group – which also includes Red Rooster, Oporto and Chicken Treat – Chargrill Charlie’s opened its first store in Coogee in 1989 and now operates 22 stores across Sydney and Melbourne. Atomic 212° will work with the Chargrill Charlie’s team on all media including digital as they expand the business.
“We are thrilled to partner with Atomic 212° as we embark on the next phase of Chargrill Charlie’s growth. Their proven expertise and innovative approach align perfectly with our ambitious plans for network expansion and store growth, and we’re confident they will help us take our brand to new heights,” said Lisa White, head of marketing at Chargrill Charlie’s.
“Chargrill Charlie’s is an iconic brand in Sydney and Melbourne, with a loyal and growing customer base. We love this business and the Chargrill Charlie’s brand, which is ambitious, fun and engaging. Our team are delighted to work with Lisa and the team as they continue to expand through Australia,” said Atomic 212° chief executive officer, Rory Heffernan.
The new partnership with Chargrill Charlie’s follows a series of client wins and retentions for Atomic 212° over the past year including BlueScope, Great Wall Motor, BMW Australia and New Zealand, Bupa, the Northern Territory Government, Tourism Northern Territory, Northern Territory Major Events Company, Darrell Lea, Victoria University, My Muscle Chef, Vet Partners, Adyen and UKG.
Silver – Mindshare
In a big win for Mindshare, the GroupM agency was appointed to the media planning and buying business for Footlocker across Australia and New Zealand, following a competitive pitch.
Mindshare will be responsible for performance and campaign media planning and buying for Foot Locker across both markets, delivering strategic, data-led media planning, activation, optimisation and measurement.
The agency will support Foot Locker in its ‘good growth’ ambitions, specifically to diversify the retailer’s audience profile and grow customer value, through the deployment of the agency’s strategic approach to media planning and sophisticated performance marketing capabilities.
Foot Locker operates close to 100 retail stores across Australia and New Zealand and is one of the most recognisable destinations for all things sneaker culture both in the region and globally.
“We are very thankful to our incumbent agencies who’ve helped us achieve success to date. But we are at an important stage of growth for the brand. Foot Locker wants to unlock the inner sneakerhead in all of us,” said Brendan Graham, senior director of marketing for Asia Pacific at Foot Locker. “Mindshare presented a compelling strategic vision and a roadmap to achieve and measure it. We look forward to engineering the right media mix to capture existing demand and grow our customer base and purchase frequency”.
“Foot Locker is a vital brand with a strong history of sparking discovery. We are excited to bring our Good Growth and Transformation approach to the task of growing Foot Locker in a disrupted marketplace,” said Maria Grivas, Mindshare AUNZ CEO.
Foot Locker recently made headlines for the launch of its new ‘Reimagined’ store concept in Melbourne Central, which coincided with its 50th anniversary as a brand and its announcement as a Major Partner of the WNBL. It also secured a partnership with the Australian Boomers men’s national team.
The win follows a run of new business success for Mindshare including winning Unilever, Nova Entertainment and extending its contract with the University of Melbourne.
Gold – WiredCo
After a competitive pitch process WiredCo., B&T’s Independent Agency of the Year 2023 with less than 50 employees, was named Boost Mobile’s newest lead paid media agency. Managing all paid media, SEO and affiliate marketing, WiredCo.’s ambition with the new appointment is to help Boost Mobile continue its momentum in Australia.
WiredCo.’s full remit for the brand covers Brandformance, where the agency will be wiring together brand building with performance marketing, offering full-service paid media, SEO and affiliate management, from strategy through to implementation and optimisation.
Boost will be taking advantage of WiredCo’s latest MarTech solution, FuseBox, which brings together a collection of owned and 3rd party tools aimed at super-charging media buying and management capabilities. This includes WiredBuys, WiredCo’s owned agnostic media buying solution, giving complete transparency and uncompromised media buying solutions, as well as WiredPredicts, a proprietary tool that predicts performance outcomes with over 95 per cent accuracy.
“We are super excited to be partnering with Boost Mobile, who not only share our ambitions but also happen to be a group of outstanding humans. We couldn’t be happier we’ve officially won the work, with our focus from kick off aimed at further growing consideration, whilst also maximising efficiencies across performance marketing,” said WiredCo.’s founder and managing director, Angela Hampton.
“From the outset we were impressed with WiredCo’s overall approach, expertise and mindset, and believe they are well placed to help us further accelerate our growth. As a youth-focused brand, we are aligned to their vision and how they can support us to further unlock new growth opportunities heading into 2025 with clear focus and purpose. Their team will play an important role alongside our other partners in further driving consideration as the leaders in prepaid and beyond and we look forward to seeing this relationship develop,” said Boost Mobile’s CEO Jason Haynes.
