Honda awards creative account to Leo Burnett
Honda: parts ways with DraftFCB Melborne
Honda has announced the winner of its creative pitch, which sees incumbent DraftFCB move off the business.
Leo Burnett Melbourne has won the account in a final round of pitching with BMF.
Honda Australia director and GM sales and marketing, Stephen Collins said: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with Leo Burnett.
“They have developed some great campaign ideas for Honda to drive our brand positioning of clever thinking through the Power of Dreams. Towards the end of this year, consumers will see a fresh approach from Honda and we will maintain a solid advertising spend to support the launch of exciting new models.
“We thank the team at Draft for their dedication to the brand over the past decade and wish them all the best for the future.”
Leo Burnett Melbourne boss Melinda Geertz said: “We are absolutely thrilled. Honda is one of the greatest brands in the world and we feel privileged to have this opportunity. We look forward to helping them take their business here in Australia to the next level.”
Tim Higginson, the general manager of DraftFCB, which defended the business in the pitch, said: “Draftfcb Melbourne is very proud of the work and the results we’ve achieved with Honda over the course of our relationship, and are obviously disappointed by this decision. We believe our vision and plans for Honda in Australia would continue to build a relevant and powerful brand presence. We wish Honda well with their new agency.”
The news comes just over a year after Leo Burnett’s Sydney office fired its Subaru client.
Among DraftFCB’s most recent campaigns for Honda portrayed the marque’s rivals as having parachutes attached.
10 years is a good run on any client. the work was looking a little stale but still a sad day for Draft, hope it doesn’t mean a big downsizing. Some good people. Onwards and upwards.
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About time! Honda’s advertising was starting to feel extremely stale!
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A sad occurrence which will be devastatingly disappointing for a a great team after a decade of effort and commitment. There are too few agencies (and clients for that matter) who put the effort in to make a relationship flourish that long, and fewer still who are able to celebrate the achievement that it is. Heads up DFCB.
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