Did you miss us? Yes, we are sadly a week late to the New Business Winners column. But when you’re getting ready for the greatest advertising, creativity, marketing, and media festival in the Southern Hemisphere, time tends to slip away.
But this one was worth waiting for, we reckon, with Publicis taking two of the media top spots and WPP taking the creative gold with an important (and probably much-needed) global creative and production win.
Over the course of April, we recorded 16 account moves. Unlucky to miss out on the podiums this month are RUN Aotearoa, which landed a fascinating rebranding piece of work for the Marshall Islands, as well as TAG, which won the creative account for B2B firm Fresho.
Superhuman can also consider itself unlucky, missing out on Bronze for its Betty’s Burgers win. So too GMS Media after it won the digital performance for Chinese automaker Zeekr, We Are Social for its Airbnb social and influencer win and Sandbox Media, which won Sydney Zoo’s media.
But onto the podiums.
Creative Agencies
Bronze – TRP
Indie agency TRP notched a side-of-the-mouth-curling win in April, being the creative agency for brilliantly named butter brand Lard Arse.
Founded by Monica Cavarsan, Lard Ass was created to challenge a butter category increasingly defined by speed, softness and convenience. Instead, the brand produces hand-crafted, cultured butter on a small scale so that flavour, texture and ingredients are of a high quality.
It also launched the brand’s first major campaign in April.
Founder Monica Cavarsan said it marked an important step in bringing the brand’s philosophy to a wider audience: “From the beginning, Lard Ass has been about bringing back what butter is supposed to be; rich, hand-crafted and full of flavour. We’re not trying to make butter more convenient. We’re trying to make it better. And this campaign is our way of inviting more Australians to taste the difference proper butter makes.”
Silver – The Royals
It’s been a while since we’ve seen The Royals in the New Business Winner pages but it’s back with a bang, taking home this silver medal after winning Pepper Money’s creative account.
The appointment was finalised after an extensive RFP process led by head of brand and marketing David Berry alongside Tumbleturn Marketing Advisory partner Dan Johns. It marked the end of a decade-long partnership with String Theory.
Chief marketing officer Sarah Pikardt described the move as a natural evolution for the brand, which has spent the past 25 years — and particularly the last decade — building a strong internal foundation.
“Together, we created a brand platform grounded in ‘real life’, with a clear sense of purpose, values and tone in how we show up for customers, brokers and each other,” Pikardt said. “Those foundations are strong and deeply felt inside Pepper Money, it gives us the confidence to move into this next phase with The Royals, focusing on expression and impact.”
Gold – WPP
WPP notched a big global win at the end of the month, taking home the consolidated global creative and production business for Henkel Consumer Brands, encompassing iconic brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Syoss.
This expansion builds on the successful consolidated media business awarded to WPP last year across Europe, reinforcing WPP’s role as a trusted growth partner for Henkel.
The win follows a competitive global pitch spanning over 12 months, where Henkel sought a partner to deliver integrated end-to-end solutions from creative to marketing technology capable of accelerating growth across its extensive global brand portfolio.
This win is a powerful proof point that our Elevate28 strategy is working. Henkel’s ambition for end-to-end marketing excellence aligns perfectly with our ability to bring together world-class creativity with the transformative capabilities of WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform,” said Cindy Rose, CEO of WPP.
Media Agencies
Bronze – Zenith
Just the one B&T exclusive for you this month (we’ve been slacking on more than one front, it seems) – that Zenith had won the media account for Industry Super Australia.
Zenith replaces Omnicom’s Initiative, which has worked with Industry Super Australia for 14 years. Its creative work is handled by The Shannon Company.
Alana Burnside, chief executive of Industry Super Australia, said: “We are delighted to appoint Zenith Media after a robust and comprehensive tender process. Zenith demonstrated that they understood the challenges and opportunities in the sector, and also how they could apply their skill and insights as an extension of our team.
Industry Super Australia represents AustralianSuper, HostPlus, HESTA, cbus, CareSuper, Team Super and First Super. It provides marketing support for its member funds, as well as provides a comparison tool to help people choose a fund.
Silver – WPP Media
WPP Media’s Australian continues to notch wins at an enviable pace and it was no different in April, as it took the keys to Chinese automaker BYD’s media planning and buying account.
Independent agency Yango had handled BYD’s media buying and planning for the past two years. The account will be serviced via a bespoke WPP Media division, similar to how it services Suncorp and Nestle. WPP Media’s Mindshare also services MG’s internal combustion engine cars, while Wavemaker handles Mitsubishi’s account. WPP is Ford’s global integrated agency.
“BYD looks forward to our partnership with WPP Media as we enter an exciting next phase of growth in Australia, continuing to build the BYD brand and bring DENZA to the Australian market,” BYD ANZ chief marketing officer Kate Hornstein told B&T.
There’s been a flurry of pitching among the Chinese automakers of late, too. BYD and others, such as Chery and Geely, typically review agency contracts every second year, leading to a flood of pitching activity in the market.
Short-term media agency retainers are not considered ideal to get the most out of an agency-client partnership, but B&T understands that Chinese car companies are known to offer appealing contracts.
Gold – Publicis Groupe
Another important global win here, with Publicis taking Microsoft’s global media account from Dentsu, following a closed-door review.
Dentsu had held the account since 2014 and retained it in a competitive pitch in 2018.
COMvergence reckons Microsoft spent just under a AU$1 billion on media last year.
Dentsu is expected to continue to handle the media account for Microsoft-owned Xbox.
It comes after LinkedIn, also owned by Microsoft, migrated to Publicis last year.
The win was first reported in Ad Age.
