Pitch Watch: Optus/Virgin Mobile; PVH Brands; RMIT; Australian Pork; Mediapalooza
Mumbrella casts an eye over the major media, creative and public relations pitches at play in market.
In this wrap up the latest on: Virgin Mobile/Optus latest, Federal Government (pitch finalised), PVH (new pitch), RMIT (new pitch), Australian Pork (retained), Canon (confirmed account move), and ‘mediapalooza’ looks to be finalising its last couple of pitches.
PVH Brands pitches – media
Clothing brand PVH Brands Australia, which represents major clothing brands such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Van Heusen, is pitching its media, Mumbrella can reveal. 
Mediacom is not expected to pitch with the brand understood to be moving its account from Melbourne to Sydney where the agency had a conflict with Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH).
PVH Brands declined to comment but it is understood a number of agencies have been approached. Mediacom declined to comment.
The account is thought to be worth around $5m.
Virgin Mobile/Optus – creative and media
Final presentations for Virgin Mobile are understood to be next week – and the field is narrowing down with BMF understood to be out of contention.
That leaves incumbents Havas Worldwide up against Whybin\TBWA and independent With Collective to go head to head in those presentations.
The Optus element of the pitch is understood to be grinding on although it looks increasingly likely it will appoint a roster of agencies for different projects, as well as a main creative agency with M&C Saatchi and Ogilvy Sydney battling it out for that.
On the media side of things Havas won’t be stealing in for the account which straddles both brands, incumbents Starcom and Mediabrands agency UM are fighting for the business.
All agencies contacted declined to comment.
Canon confirms Leo Burnett/Mediavest appointment – media
Canon has today confirmed Mumbrella’s report from August that the brand has consolidated its media business with Leo Burnett and Medivest under the agency’s Connect Strategy model.
Leo Burnett already handled Canon’s creative and strategy but will now manage Canon’s media with Jason McLean, director – Canon consumer imaging saying: “Leo Burnett has been our Creative Partner for many years now and this expansion into Media Strategy is an exciting new step.
“This new path is a testament to both the strength of our relationship, and our belief in the seamless Connect Strategy offering.”
RMIT – creative and media
The Melbourne university is pitching its media and creative accounts, Mumbrella can reveal.
An RMIT spokesman declined to comment on the pitch but it is understood a number of agencies in the Melbourne market have been approached about it.
A number of universities have called pitches in the last 18 months seeking to take advantage of the Federal Government’s proposed deregulation reforms.
Many of those reforms were scrapped yesterday by the Turnbull government and it will be interesting to if the various university utilise their new agencies with caps on student numbers remaining in place.
Federal Government – media, creative, PR
Last month we told you about the 20-agency shootout for the China Free Trade campaign on behalf of Austrade and the Federal Government.
As we said in the last Pitch Watch, 303 Lowe has been tasked with creating a fast turnaround campaign to support the controversial deal which has drawn ire from unions, with spending on it understood to stand at around $24.6m and include roadshows across several Asian countries.
Further details have now come to light with the Austender website reporting that 303Lowe has been awarded a contract worth $1.3m for the campaign, Blue Grass Consulting has a contract of $550,000 for its public relations services, AMR Interactive gets $327,000 for marketing research and $147,000 for Creative Content Media to do production.
Media agency Dentsu Mitchells will also have $6.6m to play with for the media buy.
Australian Pork
The media pitch for the organisation representing Australia’s pork producers has been resolved, Mumbrella understands.
The pitch was called a couple of months ago, with a number of agencies involved but news of the tender only came to light last month.
Incumbent Dentsu Mitchells is understood to have retained the account however, Australian Pork has not responded to requests for comment at the time of posting.
All agencies contacted declined to comment.
Mediapalooza – Mondelez, Mercedes Benz, General Mills
A final word on mediapalooza. There are still more than $130m in billings at play within the market at present but the good news is a number of them appear to be wrapping up.
Decisions on some of the big accounts $28m Mondelez, $17.9m Daimler/Mercedes and $5.8m General Mills are all expected in the coming weeks.
Many of the big global players are planning for a January 1 start date which is forcing the global pitch madness to finally come to an end.
Nic Christensen and Alex Hayes
