Vodafone has shuffled its media planning and buying today with the announcement it will move its business from WPP’s Bohemia to fellow WPP media agency GroupM. The move aims to help align with global ‘Team Red’ arrangements, a bespoke unit of GroupM Media developed specifically to service the leading telco brand.
The realignment will begin in coming weeks and will be completed by 31 October 2016. Bohemia has worked with Vodafone for the past four years, with its contract due to end this year.
Bohemia’s Brett Dawson said while the agency was disappointed with the decision to align with global arrangements, they were pleased with the work Bohemia had done for the brand.
“We have partnered with Vodafone for more than four years, through the company’s turnaround. We have thrived on this challenge and our work has delivered demonstrable results, achieving both local and global recognition.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Bohemia team for its passion and dedication, the Vodafone team for its trust, and the numerous media partners who have helped us output this work along the way,” he said.
Vodafone chief marketing officer Loo Fun Chee said Bohemia had been an “instrumental partner” in telling the turnaround story, it was time to align the account with global arrangements to support the brand transformation.
“We saw an opportunity to leverage WPP GroupM Media’s solid understanding of our global business as we enter this exciting new period of growth. We look forward to working with fellow WPP GroupM agency in the future,” she said.
Group M CEO AUNZ Mark Lollback said GroupM’s Team Red already has significant experience overseas with Vodafone and the team is looking forward to extending this knowledge to the Australian market.
“Bohemia has established a solid platform for growth and is pleased that the account remains within the broader WPP AUNZ group,” he said.
