News

iiNet media pitch down to shortlist of three

iinetThree agencies will face off in the presentation round against each other for the media account of internet service provider iiNet, Mumbrella understands.

The pitch for one of the biggest accounts in Western Australia and originally saw a field of agencies including Initiative, Mindshare, Vizeum, ZenithOptimedia, along with incumbent OMD WA throwing their hats in the ring.

While all agencies contacted declined to comment on the pitch, it is understood that this shortlist has now been reduced to just three, with some contenders understood to be offering to set up or expand their office in Perth should they win the $20m account.

Initiative, Mindshare and the incumbent OMD WA are understood to be left in the running for the account.

The media pitch was revealed, by Mumbrella, earlier this month with the client signalling that they were open to agencies outside Western Australia, with a spokesman saying: “As is common practice at iiNet, we asked agencies nationwide. iiNet is a national company with offices in every state.”

In a statement the ISP’s chief operating officer Maryna Fewster said at the time: “As part of a regular review of agencies, iiNet has put our media buying contract out to tender.”

“OMD Perth has been our media agency for approximately two years and they, along with a select group of media agencies, will be invited to tender over the coming days.”

OMD is part of Marketforce in Perth, which also has creative duties for the business after bringing it back from BWM Sydney at the end of 2012.

According to Nielsen, estimated iiNet had a media spend of $19.3m in the 12 months to September and the media review comes at a time when many observers are tipping a marketing war between the major telco players for market share.

Nic Christensen 

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