Every month, B&T will be rounding up and shouting out the biggest winners among Australia’s creative and media agencies. Check out September’s winners here.
October was a slightly slower month on the creative side of the ledger — save for the small matter of the new +61 Telstra creative setup (a story, you may recall, that B&T broke).
On the media side, however, there were a litany of smaller, but still important wins, making our job of picking the best-performing agencies harder than ever. Be warned, however, this article contains several very predictable puns.
Media agencies
Bronze — MediaHub
Early in the month, it was announced that MediaHub had run off with New Balance’s media account. Now, the account isn’t huge in terms of billings. But New Balance is a perennially trendy brand and the win feeds directly into MediaHub’s “data-driven strategy” informed by its SCOUT Insights tool, according to the agency’s top dog Sue Squillace.
Silver — UM
UM Melbourne picked up a tasty account in October — snaring General Mills’ account away from Mindshare, an account it had held since 2015. General Mills operates brands such as Old El Paso, Nature Valley and Haagen-Dazs. UM won the account globally and the agency’s Melbourne office will manage the Australian account.
Gold — SPEED
Indie agency SPEED set the pace early on for new business wins in October, driving off with LDV’s $30 million rated media account. Spark Foundry had held the account though Publicis re-pitched for the account via a bespoke solution called LDV Ignite.
“We have built an ambitious and formidable team at SPEED and it’s so rewarding for those talented people to prove their abilities at the highest level,” SPEED’s managing partner, Ian Perrin, told B&T.
LDV is a division of SAIC (Shanghai Automobile and Industrial Corporation), the largest automotive manufacturer in China. The brand launched in the Australian market in 2013 with a range of vans, utes and SUVs.
Creative agencies
Bronze — AJF
Things were heating up for Melbourne-based independent creative AJF in October, as it won the creative account for barbecue brand Weber. AJF won the account to develop a new brand campaign following a competitive pitch process. “The Weber is a truly iconic piece of kit, and to celebrate the launch of the new Q range we used a nod to our famous barbecue heritage,” said AJF partnership ECD Scott Walker.
Silver — Supermassive
Recently founded indie Supermassive added Tourism Tropical North Queensland to its impressive range of recently acquired clients last month. The win followed a competitive pitch and will see the agency, founded by former Havas execs Laura Aldington, Simone Gupta and Jon Austin, seeking to attract tourists from global markets with a focus on sustainable tourism. “The team at TTNQ’s ambition to drive awareness and impact as an eco-travel destination through a combination of thoughtful strategy and non-traditional creativity aligns perfectly with our mission,” said the agency bosses.
Gold — TBWA & Bear Meets Eagle On Fire
Had to be, hadn’t it? TBWA and Bear Meets Eagle On Fire (try typing that after a few schooners) have joined forces to work on Telstra’s $100 million creative account, forming the +61 bespoke agency in the process. Telstra’s existing media agency, OMD, is also joining the new bespoke set-up.
“This is not just another standalone one-client agency built to deliver efficiencies,” said Telstra’s CMO Brent Smart, “We have big creative ambitions and this is about the best talent and thinking from three agencies at the top of their game, collaborating on our business as one team with one commercial arrangement”.
Bear Meets Eagle On Fire’s boss, Micah Walker, described it as “a huge honour,” while Paul Bradbury, CEO of TBWA Australia & New Zealand, said it was “a very special opportunity”.
