Ikon out as UM wins Coca Cola media pitch
Media brands agency UM has won the media pitch for Coca-Cola, taking the client from Ikon.
The account is thought to be worth as much as $30m with incumbent agency of ten years Ikon Communications facing off against UM, MediaCom, Carat and Starcom MediaVest.
This is another major loss for media agency Ikon which lost Vodafone to independent agency Bohemia and Sony to Initiative last year. The agency is also fighting to retain SPC Ardmona which is currently up for pitch.
It is understood the account win also includes the strategy duties, which were held by Naked Communications for the last seven years.
Nielsen data shows Coca Cola was worth $23m for the last financial year in main media, but this was was down around 50 per cent on the previous year.
The media pitch was launched in November last year and was run internally.
The statement from Coca-Cola:
Following an evaluation of leading media agencies in Australia and their ability to provide integrated communication planning, media planning, media buying and evaluation, Coca-Cola South Pacific has appointed UM (Universal McCann). This sees a consolidation of media strategy and media buying services.
The appointment responds, not to a gap in the performance of our current partners, but to our desire to continuously re-evaluate the fit between our needs and the marketplace capabilities given the rapid changes in both the consumer landscape and our business.
We would like to thank both Naked Communications & IKON Communications for the substantial impact that they have both made on our business over the last ten and seven years respectively. Naked Communications will continue to be a rostered agency working on special projects for Coca-Cola South Pacific.
Nic Christensen and Alex Hayes
Well done team. The many late nights and weekends were well worth it!
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The real question here is….who dropped their pants the most??? i think we all know the answer…….
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Well done Travis, for the win, and for posting here.
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no gap in performance = decision came down to cost.
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Whatever. With a client like Coke I doubt cost is a factor. Try talent and good thinking – that tends to be what they historically value. Just sayin.
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Don’t UM have internal email? Weird.
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Was the bloodbath too little, too late?
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Hi Another Agency, just like all holding companies IPG has many businesses in Australia and globally. Mnet (mobile) works with UM and many non-IPG clients. Just congratulating a strong performing agency on a great win…
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Jealousy is a curse.
It seems the smartest people won it in the end not the cheapest…
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Well done UM on a brilliant win. Am I the only one puzzled at how UM Sydney can be absolutely world class, and yet the rest of the group offices so comparatively poor? Feels like UM Melbourne and Initiative need some love!
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the pressure on Mr Greet has just lifted several notches methinks..
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Congrats, no doubt that they worked hard to win this and with something this big it has to be about ideas and good work. They deserve the congratulations and I am sure the sister businesses like MNET/ensemble will be able to develop great solutions to grow the business.
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