It has been a month to remember for the teams at UM in Australia as the agency took home some huge accounts in August. Over on the creative side, there were two big wins for CHEP and DDB.
On the creative side, honourable mentions must go to Paper+Spark for winning Campbell’s Wholesale, Affinity for winning ActewAGL and new indie the Bureau of Everything. The latter was founded by former M&C chief creative and strategy officers Cam Blackley and Emily Taylor and won the creative account for an as-yet-unnamed eBike brand.
Over in media land, there were a number of smaller wins. Dig won the search and content account for a2 Milk. Half Dome won the performance and SEO work for NTI and Ryvalmedia announced a host of new wins, including the Millbrook Group, Machines4U, Guide Dogs ACT/NSW and more.
However, there was little doubt about who would be taking the top spot on B&T’s New Business Winners podium this month — particularly on the media side of the ledger.
Creative agencies
Bronze — Howatson+Company
Howatson+Co picked up the Selleys creative account in the middle of August, having recently announced refreshed senior creative leadership. Part of the Dulux Group, Selley’s sits separately from the rest of the Group’s brands, including Dulux, British Paints, and Berger with DDB managing the strategy and creative.
“This is a proud moment for H+Co. We were not only inspired by the Selleys team’s vision but the kindness and ambition of their people. To join their team is a true privilege and we look forward to supporting them in their next phase of growth,” said Renee Hyde, group managing director, Howatson+Company.
“We thoroughly enjoyed the process with Howatson+Company, who demonstrated strong capability to deliver on our ambitious vision for Selleys. This is a very exciting time for the business, and I’m thrilled to have the H+Co team work alongside our Selleys team as we continue to evolve the brand in Australia,” added Antoinette Tyrrell, group capability director brand and digital, DuluxGroup.
Silver — DDB Group
While this isn’t technically a new business win, DDB’s three-year extension of the global Volkswagen creative account shows the value of sticking with a client and an agency — and will be just as important to the agency as a new win.
Omnicom, which owns DDB, will also broaden its partnership with Volkswagen to include “precision marketing capabilities” as it transforms the company’s customer experience and production processes. This newly-formed group will be fully integrated with the media team at PHD.
Volkswagen global CMO Susanne Franz said: “Omnicom and Volkswagen are entering a new era in how we create our communication. The DDB heritage and their depth of knowledge of the Volkswagen brand is unrivalled, and the seamless introduction and integration of new and existing Omnicom partners will take the partnership to a new level. Their care, love and passion for the Volkswagen brand is always felt by our teams.”
DDB has controlled the VW account for six decades, having produced some of the most important automotive adverts of all time — such as “Think Small” and “Lemon” from the 1960s. Its more recent efforts have been good, too.
Gold — CHEP
After coming second in March’s New Business Rankings, CHEP has taken the top spot after being appointed as the lead creative agency for Bupa. In a refreshed approach to its agencies, CHEP will take on the brand and creative strategy for all of Bupa’s Australian businesses, including health insurance, dental, optical, hearing and aged care starting from October. It beat Thinkerbell in a competitive pitch. CHEP will be supported by smaller creative agencies 2045, Six Black Pens and Scooter on Bupa’s account.
“Our new network brings together a tight suite of agencies who will understand us, our brands and our customers intimately and work with us to collaborate on some exciting future projects,” said Bupa Health Insurance marketing general manager Naomi Driver.
“This new ‘partner’ model aligns to our broader business objectives and brand ambition of being the most customer-centric health care company. It will bring a consistency in market across our businesses, and help us achieve greater efficiency and value to our 4.3 million customers”.
A healthy win, indeed.
Media agencies
Bronze — Revium
At the start of August, Revium drove off with Chinese automaker GWM’s digital media account following a competitive pitch. Working with fellow newly appointed creative partner Thinkerbell, Revium will be tasked with growing GWM’s brand recognition as the nascent manufacturer expands in Australia.
Revium had delivered a series of successful one-off digital projects for GWM over the last year, too.
“We are genuinely excited to expand our collaboration with GWM ANZ and we can’t wait to use our collective experience and expertise to drive forward GWM’s brand visibility, customer engagement, and market growth. We look forward to collaborating closely with GWM and Thinkerbell to achieve these ambitious goals,” said Adam Barty, managing director of Revium.
Silver — EssenceMediacom
GroupM shop EssenceMediacom has continued a glittering new business run in 2024. In August, it won the media account for Specsavers — thought to be worth between $50-60 million. Following a slightly unusual pitching process, that saw the brand invite media agencies across ANZ to submit an expression of interest to respond to an RFI to pitch.
The agency took control of the account from IPG Mediabrands’ Initiative, which had held the account since 2016. EssenceMediacom had worked with Specsavers in New Zealand since 2010.
“We are delighted to continue our relationship with EssenceMediacom and are looking forward to extending our partnership across ANZ. Throughout the pitch process, the team showed their strategic thinking, media expertise, and data and tech capability. They combined their intelligence with a passion for our business that really resonated with our team,” said Shaun Briggs, director of marketing planning ANZ, Specsavers.
Gold — UM
UM had a month for the history books in August. B&T revealed that the agency’s UM office had won Target’s $25 million-rated media account. Earlier in August, B&T also revealed that UM had retained the mammoth $140 million Federal Government Master Media Account after it went to pitch in December.
OMD had held the Target account since 2016. The Omnicom agency is still working with Target in a reduced capacity. Following B&T revealing that UM had nabbed the Master Media Account, Brett Elliott, the agency’s managing director, government, said: “There is no greater accolade than being reappointed to the Australian Government master media contract.
Anathea Ruys, CEO, UM Australia told B&T the wins were a “recognition” of its “exceptional talent and dedication”.
“UM’s success stems from our unwavering commitment to innovation, a deep understanding of client needs, and a culture of excellence that thrives on collaboration and creativity. By staying true to our core values, we’ve created an environment where success is not just a goal but a consistent outcome,” she added.
