News

End of the road for The Campaign Palace

The Campaign Palace – once one of Australia’s most respected ad agencies – is to be folded into JWT, WPP has announced.

The announcement comes days after Mumbrella revealed the imminent departure of executive chairman Mark Mackay from the troubled agency.

The agency has been in decline for some time. Last year, The Campaign Palace Sydney was scored bottom out of the 30 agencies features in the Mumbrella Creative Agency Review.

Recent years saw a revolving door of management arrivals and departures with many clients including Bonds, Target, Westpac and Domino’s drifting out of the door.

The announcement:

JWT Australia has taken over operations of fellow WPP agency The Campaign Palace, moving all existing staff and clients into its Sydney office from July 1.

“This move is designed to give Palace clients and staff the benefit of added resources to continue to deliver the exceptional work and results that the Palace has long been renowned for,” said JWT Australia New Zealand CEO John Gutteridge.

“There was a need for greater resources to be available to Palace operations and with no conflicting clients, moving into JWT makes perfect sense. We have nothing but respect and admiration for the role the Palace has played over the years in shaping the Australian advertising landscape and we are very much looking forward to working with both their clients and staff.”

The Campaign Palace name will not continue to be used at this stage.

“A great deal of consideration needs to be given to what is one of the industry’s most iconic agencies, so while The Campaign Palace name will not be used at this stage, this may change in the future,” added Gutteridge.

Accounts moving to JWT include Bayer, Panasonic, and Smartraveller.

The Campaign Palace Melbourne-based staff has been integrated into the Y&R Group in Collins St.

JWT Sydney’s Mark Harricks will continue to lead the creative team at JWT as executive creative director.

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