May was a runaway month for new business. At least for Australia and New Zealand’s creative agencies.
Over the course of the month, B&T recorded 20 individual creative account moves—that’s as many as the creative and media wins combined in some previous months. That said, Australasia’s media agencies proved less prolific, though there were a couple of significant moves which we’ll come to later.
As ever, if you’ve got a new business win you think should have made our podiums, tell us at [email protected].
Unlucky not to make the podiums this month were Born, which one Our Cow and Carma; Two Palms Media after it won the social accounts for Ferrari Australasia and Turo; and Cummins&Partners which won the full-service account for wine brand The Hidden Sea.
But now, onto the podiums.
Creative Agencies
Bronze – 72andSunny
Stagwell’s 72andSunny is, like, so hot right now.
After topping B&T’s 2025 New Business Winner creative podium after winning Princess Cruises, Deputy, Cadillac, the AFL and Big W, the agency has picked up another trophy after it won Oreo’s global creative account.
Admittedly, an Oreo will never trouble a Tim Tam in B&T’s unofficial biscuit tower of power. But it’s still an important win for an agency that is really starting to make waves in the Australian creative scene.
Silver – It’s Friday
It’s Friday is another agency on something of a roll at the moment. Last month it grabbed the keys to Chinese automaker Zeekr’s creative account (that’s pronounced Zeek-er, if you’re wondering).
Chinese car companies are becoming something of a fixture on the New Business Winners column as they seek to quickly gain market share in the uber-competitive sector (pun not intended). In fact, Zeekr alone has appointed two other new agency partners since the start of this year.
As part of the appointment, It’s Friday has developed a new brand platform for Zeekr Australia, ‘Settle No More,’ designed to capture the brand’s ambition to challenge convention and redefine expectations within the category.
The platform will underpin all brand, product, and retail communications, spanning integrated campaigns, content, experience, activation and digital activity.
“We were looking for a partner who could help us build a distinctive, premium brand in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving category,” said Tony Zhou, CMO, Zeekr Australia. “It’s Friday demonstrated a clear strategic vision and creative ambition that aligns with where we want to take the brand in Australia.”
Gold – Howatson+Company
But taking the gold medal this month are the serial winners at Howatson+Company. This time, the team has picked up the creative work for SharkNinja, the combined entity that distributes Shark brand home cleaning and personal care products and kitchen brand Ninja products in Australia.
Aby Shukla, SharkNinja’s MD, said, “The Howatson+Company team impressed us with their understanding of the customer, full funnel comms planning and creative impact. At each stage of the process, they demonstrated their perfect cultural fit with our business. We’re excited to welcome them to SharkNinja ANZ family”.
Media Agencies
Bronze – Mediahub
Taking the bronze medal this month is Mediahub which, with the help of sister agency 303, won the always on digital, strong search plus engagement around key donation moments account for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF).
Recently, 303 was appointed to a brief for the Cancer Council’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea drive.
Using Mediahub’s proven media capabilities and tools, ACRF will also draw on 303’s burgeoning Data & Analytics team to ensure strong cut through in a cluttered market.
Australian Cancer Research Foundation CEO Kerry Strydom said: “We were impressed by the collaborative and seamless provision of 303’s strength in data and analytics, teamed with Mediahub’s proven media experience to develop an approach that’s unique to our organisation’s challenges. We can’t wait to see how this will increase our visibility and ultimately lead to greater outcomes within the cancer research field.
Silver – This Is Flow
One of the more unusual new business stories of the month came from This Is Flow via Awaken.
In the middle of May, it was announced that AI cloud business IREN had acquired creative and media agency Awaken to serve, essentially as its in-house agency.
This is Flow, meanwhile, will take over media planning and buying for clients including Proximo, Amazon Ring, Fuji Film, Panasonic and Opal Health Care.
Jimmy Hyett, CEO of This is Flow, said: “Welcoming Awaken’s media clients and the team into the agency, is a really exciting moment for us. With such a strategic alignment in how we work, our values, and the passion we share, makes the process so enjoyable. There’s already such a high standard of work these clients have come to expect, and now both clients and staff can experience new tools, technology and even more scale behind them, to elevate this even further.”
Awaken’s loss is Flow’s gain, it seems.
Gold – Dentsu QLD
We’ll be straight up with you, reader. Dentsu hasn’t had an easy ride of it lately.
Last month alone, The Iconic, one of its big clients, has gone to pitch and Dentsu Creative declined to take part. It also closed its iProspect and Carat brands locally, meaning it will serve as Dentsu Media only. As such, it lost senior figures Marcelle Hoyek, iPropsect’s national managing director, Ken Lam the GM of iProspect Victoria and Barbara Messitt, MD of Woolworths@DAN.
But that must surely have made the extension of Tourism & Events Queensland and the addition of its offline media planning and buying to its contract all the sweeter.
The addition of offline media buying to Dentsu QLD’s remit consolidates all media responsibilities — planning, digital and offline — within the agency.
TEQ group executive marketing, Kim McConnie, said: “Media plays a critical role in how we build Queensland’s brand, drive visitation and support the broader tourism and events industry. Dentsu Queensland has proven to be a strong strategic partner, bringing deep media expertise, a collaborative approach and a clear understanding of the Queensland tourism landscape. Consolidating our full media remit creates a more streamlined and integrated model, enabling TEQ to respond to market opportunities with greater speed, consistency and impact.”
A key driver of the partnership’s success has been the evolution of the Industry Media Agency for Tourism and Events (IMATE) — a bespoke model that aligns Queensland’s tourism regions and operators with TEQ’s media capabilities. IMATE continues to unlock greater expertise, scale and efficiency for the sector, providing access to premium audiences and best-practice media investment.
Managing director Dentsu QLD, Emily Cook, said: “We are incredibly proud to continue our partnership with TEQ and deepen our role in supporting one of Australia’s most ambitious and influential tourism organisations. This extension reflects the momentum we have proudly built together and creates an exciting opportunity to deliver even greater integration, agility and effectiveness as well as growth for our team. We look forward to continuing to drive innovation and impact for TEQ, its industry partners and the state.”
And you know what we say? Good on ’em.
