2014 Annual: the year that was – December
It was another year of continual change in the media and marketing world. Over the next 12 days, Mumbrella’s Miranda Ward provides a month-by-month recap of the major stories and developments that affected the industry.
As the year looked to wrap up, Australia Post awarded its media account to Mitchell & Partners.
It was more bad news for Mediacom as IAG insurance joined the list of advertisers asking questions of whether their media agency had overcharged for TV advertising bought on their behalf and Foxtel moved its $50m media account from Mediacom to sister GroupM agency Mindshare. Yum! Brands chief marketing officer Nikki Lawson has said she will stick by Mediacom while a full investigation into the misreporting of TV audience figures is carried out.
In TV, Seven won its eighth consecutive television ratings year taking the biggest total audience, with Nine winning in the major advertising demographics for the third straight year.
Ten confirmed it had received several offers for the company as the deadline closed for non-indicative bids to takeover the struggling broadcaster. Foxtel and Discovery Communications tabled a 23 cents a share offer for Ten.
Lion Co awarded its beer brand Hahn to Ogilvy following a competitive pitch. Ogilvy also retained the BMW/Mini account during December.
Seven West Media chief operating officer Nick Chan left the company after only 14 months in the role.
Seven West Media signed up with Foxtel’s streaming service Presto.
Bauer Media took Mamamia to court over the similarity of the name of its new spin-off site called Debrief Daily to Bauer’s site The Debrief.
The Publicis Groupe extended the deadline for its deal to acquire the Sapient group.
News.com.au reclaimed the top spot in the Nielsen online news rankings for November leapfrogging the smh.com.au.
In international media news, Alan Rusbridger announced he was stepping down as editor-in-chief of The Guardian to become chairman of the newspaper’s owner, the Scott Trust.
In media agency news, Slingshot won the media account for Goodman Fielder’s baking division, Maxus won the media account for iSelect and OMD retained the Dulux Group business in Australia and New Zealand following a two month competitive pitch.
Full service agency Joy picked up the creative account for Boost Mobile after a competitive pitch and Optus appointed customer engagement agency OgilvyOne to its Business account following a competitive pitch.
Former CEO of The Newspaper Works Tony Hale has been appointed to lead The Communications Council, replacing Margaret Zabel who is moving to a marketing role with McDonald’s.
Netflix confirmed it would not have a local presence when it launches in Australia and New Zealand, instead relying on its agencies to be its “eyes and ears on the ground”.
The month took a tragic note when Man Haron Monis took 17 people hostage inside Martin Place’s Lindt Cafe. Channel 7 evacuated its Martin Place newsroom as all major channels went into rolling news mode to cover the incident. It ended in the early hours of the morning when police entered the cafe after hearing shots, tragically Katrina Dawson and Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson were killed.
Clemenger BBDO closed its Adelaide office, with chairman Robert Moran telling Mumbrella the closure was due to a shrinking market.
Mars shifted its media planning account from Starcom to Mediacom as part of a global alignment to streamline its business.
Network Ten cautioned shareholders that takeover bids might not result in a takeover.
Fairfax Media and Macquarie Radio Network agreed to merge in a deal that will see Fairfax take a majority shareholding of 54.5 per cent in a new enlarged listed entity.
December wrapped up with the news that OMD had been appointed as the media agency for national airline Qantas.
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Alan Rusbridger
annual
Bauer Media
BMW
Boost Mobile
Debrief Daily
Dulux
Foxtel
Goodman Fielder
Hahn
katrina dawson
Lindt Cafe
Lion Co
mamamia
Man Haron Monis
Mars
Martin Place
Mediacom
Netflix
news.com.au
Ogilvy
OMD
Optus
Presto
Qantas
Sapient
Seven
Starcom
sydney siege
Ten
The Debrief
The Guardian
Tori Johnson
year in review
