June was a quieter month for media agencies but there was plenty of success to be had for Australia’s creative agencies.
On the creative side, there were wins for Hello Social and M&C Saatchi, as well as our top three below. Claxon, meanwhile, took home a tasty full-service win for Celebrity Ink
On the media side, indie agency Hatched retained the aftermarket auto parts business Bapcor’s account.
Special is on something of a hot streak at the moment, as it picked up the Creative Gold last month following its Cricket Australia win. On the Media side, UM’s Global Levi’s win saw it top the pile.
Plus, with so many high-profile pitches on at the moment — Tourism Australia and the Federal Government’s Master Media account, for instance — you can expect to see these pages hotting up even more in the coming months.
But, onto June. Here are all your winners.
Media Agencies
Bronze — Carat WA
A few weeks back, Carat’s WA team picked up the media strategy, planning and buying services for home building firm Summit following a competitive pitch.
“We’re excited to have appointed Carat as our media agency to help us drive business growth. We were impressed with the quality of the proposition and the demonstrated experience shared,” said Summit Homes marketing manager Alicia Butturini.
Silver — EssenceMediacom
On the other side of the country, EssenceMediacom retained the $60m-rated Queensland Government media account in Brisbane.
On winning the business, a jubilant Kellie Dawson, the agency’s Brissie managing director, said that the team “could not be more excited to continue our deep and long-standing relationship with Queensland Government.”
EssenceMediacom said that it had been on a “transformation journey” since its merger two years ago and that its new “Breakthrough Planning Process” has transformed its approach to media buying and planning.
Gold — PHD
Taking our top spot this month, however, is an account win that has been some three years in the making.
In 2021, Volkswagen started a review of its global media account but the review was later put on ice. Last year, the review was chucked back in the microwave to defrost and carried on. Omnicom’s PHD retained the account, thought to be worth some £2 billion (around $3 billion) globally.
According to a report in AdAge, Omnicom’s ‘agency-as-a-platform approach’, which offers a flexible and fully integrated Omnicom team was key to its retention of the account.
Creative Agencies
Bronze — The Royals
The Royals picked up a tasty win last month as Bega Group selected the agency for its Dairy Farmers milk brand following a competitive pitch.
According to Bega’s general manager of marketing & innovation, Matt Gray, The Royals “demonstrated a depth of understanding of the Dairy Farmers business, were a great team to work with, and brought strong creative credentials to the table.”
Silver — Cummins&Partners
Cummins&Partners was named the agency of record for Equip Super last month following a competitive pitch.
Brent Retallick, the fund’s chief technology and transformation officer, said that it was “focused on providing to its members the best care and returns… we’re seeing an opportunity for the growing cohort of pre-retirees to provide deeper support and service. We’re thrilled to launch this campaign with cummins&partners and thank them for their help in getting us here.”
Gold — Special
Special, meanwhile, took the top spot for creative agencies in June after it was named the agency of record for IGA following a competitive pitch.
Special will be working across brand strategy and design, advertising and communications. The Core Agency had held the account since 2019.
“We’re excited to partner with Special, another independent network, to continue to share more about what makes IGA special and the benefits that come from shopping local from family-owned businesses,” said Fiona Johnston, the general manager of Shopper, Brand and Loyalty at Metcash Food.
Special Australia partner and CEO Lindsey Evans, meanwhile, said that the team was “proud” to partner with IGA.
