WPP agencies topped both podiums in September’s new business winners, following the mammoth Suncorp media win and VML’s double with Kubota and the University of Western Australia.
Competition was fierce among media agencies in September, with some huge global wins and impressive local account moves. The creative agencies were quieter but there were still some notable moves.
OMD and Starcom might consider themselves unlucky to miss out on the podiums after winning Freedom Furniture and HBF, respectively. A number of indies notched some strong wins, including This Is Flow winning Australian Health Vitality, Fourteen10 winning Carma, Hatched winning Key Pharmaceuticals and Superhuman winning Elle MacPherson’s beauty brand WelleCo.
Among the most notable creative agency account moves were Hero’s Commonwealth Super win, Carbon Creative’s Wholegrain Milling Co. win and Motion Sickness—still presumably revelling in its Cannes Lions success—won Shine Lawyer’s creative account. Specsavers consolidated its earned-first work with Ogilvy PR.
But onto the podiums…
Media Agencies
Bronze – JOY
At the start of September, it all finally became official as Peter Horgan, former CEO of the Omnicom Media Group, joined JOY.
“I have had a long history with JOY professionally and personally and I am excited by what we can achieve and build together,” said Horgan.
Horgan also brought the Mecca media account with him from Omnicom’s OMD. Mecca was founded by his sister Jo Horgan.
Regardless, for an agency the size of JOY, it’s a notable win with the beauty brand recently posting 2024 revenues of $1.28 billion.
Silver – Publicis
Ordinarily, Michael Rebelo, Imogen Hewitt and Jason Tonelli would feel pretty hard done by not to take the top spot on the New Business Winner podium after Publicis retained Aldi’s global media account. The retention followed a pitch that started back in January, with WPP Media and Omnicom Media Group in the mix.
It’s an account COMvergence reported to be worth in the region of $50 million back in 2022. Now, it could be worth a fair bit more. Globally, Aldi is thought to spend in the region of $1.3 billion on media, again according to COMvergence.
To retain the account, Publicis created the Aldi One bespoke model. Locally, Zenith has been Aldi’s media agency.
Zenith had had previously retained the account in October 2022 after first winning it in 2016. It’s widely known in the market that Zenith has produced very strong work for Aldi over the years.
Gold – WPP Media
All signs were pointing to Publicis topping this month’s New Business Winners until we revealed on 29 September that WPP Media had won the single largest media account pitch of the year thus far.
We’d been hearing whispers about Suncorp pitching its media account and on the final Monday of the month it was confirmed—WPP Media had won the account. It covers all of Suncorp’s brands, including AAMI, Apia, Bingle, CIL Insurance, GIO, Essentials by AAI, Shannons, Suncorp Insurance and Terri Scheer.
It’s thought to be worth in the order of $140 million.
WPP Media created the Open Era model to best incumbent OMD. B&T understands that WPP Media’s Mindshare took a lead role during the successful pitch process. Mindshare chief executive Maria Grivas will lead the relationship as the executive lead of Open Era.
WPP Media said that the Open Era model will harness the full breadth of WPP Media’s capabilities—from its WPP Open AI platform and integrated and strategic expertise, “ensuring a seamless, collaborative approach to driving Suncorp’s growth in a rapidly evolving market”. While the win might have been decided last month, the pair won’t commence work together until March.
WPP Media also the University of Western Australia’s media account in September in a tie-up with VML.
Creative Agencies
Bronze – Tightknit
It’s been a big September for former TBWA Sydney CCO Evan Roberts and whiteGREY CEO Lee Simpson. Together, they launched new creative venture Tightknit Studio and won Stockland’s customer strategy and brand experience work across its residential, logistics, retail and workplace divisions. Havas Host had been Stockland’s creative agency.
The scope of work encompasses customer journey mapping, experience design, and the creation of ideas to reinforce Stockland’s brand positioning in competitive sectors.
Tightknit Studio will conduct an enterprise-wide analysis of the customer experience, identifying moments in the customer journey and creating brand experiences that drive consumer satisfaction and business outcomes.
Tightknit bring a unique blend of business acumen, strategic insight and strong creative pedigree to cut through the complexity and create impact,” Cherie McMahon, Stockland’s general manager, customer and marketing said.
Silver – Special
At the start of September, Special drove off with the keys to Honda’s automotive creative account (two car puns in one sentence, how about that).
Howatson+Company was previously the sole agency handling creative and media across Honda’s portfolio of product lines, which includes cars, marine, motorcycles and power equipment.
Under the new arrangement, Howatson+Company will continue to focus on marine, motorcycles and power equipment, with a lawn and garden campaign imminent. B&T understands that Special won the account without a review.
Honda’s GM of brand, marketing & customer experience, Eva Barrett, told B&T that Special has been appointed to focus on its automotive division after a “period of significant activity in market”.
“By expanding our creative village, we’re ensuring we have the brightest and most creative minds across the different Honda business units, providing a strong foundation from which we can tell the Honda story and more effectively launch exciting new vehicles such as the new Prelude, CR-V and Honda ZR-V,” Barrett said.
Gold – VML
Two strong wins for the team at VML has seen it top the Creative podium this month. The agency’s Perth office won the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) creative account, in a full-service tie-up with its friends at WPP Media.
The Brand Agency, which is part of the Ogilvy network and is ultimately owned by WPP, was previously the University’s media and creative partner. The uni said the appointment marks the beginning of a new strategic partnership between UWA, VML Perth and WPP Media to revitalise the UWA brand, deliver impactful work and ensure the UWA brand experience comes to life across all future and current student and community touchpoints.
“We were highly impressed by the calibre of work and the passion the teams brought to every interaction,” said UWA’s chief marketing officer Haylee Felton.
“There was an instant alignment of values, and we anticipate a strong and collaborative partnership with a one-team mindset.”
VML was also named the creative agency of record for Kubota in Australia and New Zealand, following a competitive review. VML will oversee all marketing activity for Kubota, including brand, sponsorship, retail, and local area marketing.
The partnership will see VML deliver a connected brand ecosystem across brand experience (BX), customer experience (CX), and commerce.
Under the new remit, VML will lead all Kubota marketing activity, spanning brand, sponsorship, retail, and local area marketing in collaboration with Kubota’s dealer network.
“VML demonstrated a deep understanding of our business and a clear vision for the future of the Kubota brand,” said Mark Basile, marketing manager Kubota Australia.
