Mindshare And The Brand Agency Take Top April’s New Business Rankings

It’s been quite the month for GroupM’s Mindshare, which will be beaming on the airwaves about its Nova and Ikea success, and playing a role in the Nestle Oceania win. Meanwhile, The Brand Agency takes out one of WA’s most coveted creative accounts.

Media Agencies

Bronze – CHEP, University of Sydney

It’s the second podium in a row for CHEP.

There have been a flurry of university agency reviews in recent times and CHEP Network has become the latest recipient, winning media buying and planning duties for the prestigious University of Sydney.

CHEP Media will support one of the world’s top 20 universities with an integrated, whole-of-university media strategy, to further elevate its brand profile and drive recruitment for undergraduate and postgraduate offerings.

The account was previously held by Yango. 

Other recent wins for CHEP Media include Compare Club, while CHEP Network was recently appointed by the Spirit of Tasmania.

Honourable mentions: Carat Victoria has retained Beacon Lighting with and expanded remit, while sister agency iProspect will be sipping on Mood Tea. These are important wins in the context of restructure that have rocked Dentsu in recent months.

Silver – Kaimera, Afterpay

Kaimera has won the media planning and buying account for buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay.

IPG agency Initiative was the incumbent on the account and Kaimera’s win follows a two-month tender process.

“Afterpay’s relentless focus to maintain our position as the leader in the BNPL space in ANZ means that we are vigilant in our appointment of agency partners. To ensure this, we believe key agency relationships should be evaluated every 2-3 years, and as such, decided to run this competitive pitch.

“We are always looking for the most innovative partners who can punch above their weight in realising both our goals and our merchant partners,” said Joel Moran, head of marketing, Afterpay International.

Gold – Mindshare, Nova, IKEA and (kinda) Nestle

Mindshare is a clear winner in B&T’s new business rankings for April after winning two solid pieces of business and influencing one of the largest reviews of the year.

The GroupM agency picked up media buying and planning duties for the media group Nova Entertainment, which includes Nova Network, Smooth FM, FIVEAA, Star 104.5 and the Nova Podcast Network. The account had previously been with Carat since 2017.

“We have been so impressed with the calibre of agency partners we spoke to as part of this process and it has underlined how Australia’s media industry is alive and well and full of great people and thinking. Nova’s growth chief Adam Johnson said.

If that wasn’t enough, Mindshare is also unpacking an extension of its IKEA media duties with colleagues in New Zealand, who won the account across the ditch ahead of the furniture store’s launch in that market in 2025.

Sweetening April even more is GroupM picking up Nestle Oceania media buying and planning duties with a bespoke solution called OpenMind. B&T understands Mindshare will be leading that effort locally, so expect plenty of KitKats floating around next time you visit their North Sydney HQ.

Creative Agencies

Bronze – Special, Employment Hero

Employment Hero has appointed independent creative agency Special London on a global brand brief.

This follows a competitive pitch between agencies from both Sydney and London.

Employment Hero operates across five markets and is used by 300,000 SMEs and over 2 million of their employees globally. Employment Hero enables these businesses to hire across 150 countries, paying out $100 billion in salaries per annum through Payroll. 

Special has been charged with creating a global brand platform that drives penetration in key markets including the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

Silver – Akcelo, Red Bull

Akcelo has won Red Bull’s creative account after a competitive pitch.

Some of Australia’s top indie creative agencies were part of the pitch, including Special Australia, HERO, Bear Meets Eagle on Fire and Howatson+Company, according to reports.

Havas Media won Red Bull’s local media account last year, spiriting it away from Omnicom-owned agency Foundation.

In February, Akcelo won the creative account for Aussie FMCG company SPC Global.

Gold – The Brand Agency, Tourism WA

Tourism Western Australia has awarded The Brand Agency its new Creative Services contract to continue bringing Walking On A Dream to the world. The contract will be in place for up to five years.

Tourism WA and The Brand Agency have previously worked together to launch the highly successful Walking On A Dream destination brand for Western Australia in September 2022. 

Since the new brand launch in September 2022, annual visitor spend in Western Australia increased by around 36 per cent from $12.27 billion to $17.7 billion in December 2023.

That campaign had a media spend of around $15 million to date and the Tourism WA account is considered among the most prestigious creative accounts in the golden state.

“The Brand Agency will strengthen Western Australia’s global brand to drive awareness, consideration, and conversion and help us achieve our vision for Western Australia to be recognised as a world-class destination, immersing people in our unique cultures, communities and environment,” Tourism WA managing director Carolyn Turnbull said.