The Year In Review: major media account moves of 2016
While 2015 was the year of the ‘mediapalooza’, 2016 has seen some big changes in the space. Mumbrella looks at some of the biggest pitches of the year.
Coles parts way with UM
In July, one of the biggest advertising accounts in Australia changed hands after 12 years with Coles, dumping incumbent UM in favour of OMD.
The pitch had been in process since January with the appointment of OMD announced in May.
The pitch had some fall-out with Wesfarmers brand Target following sister brand Coles in shifting its media spend to OMD from UM.
Tourism Australia appoints UM over OMD
While UM lost in its battle for Coles, it reigned supreme in the fight for Tourism Australia’s media account.
In May, just days after the Coles news had been broken, Mumbrella revealed Tourism Australia was set to shift the account away from OMD to UM.
The pitch was called as part of government procurement processes, with OMD having held the contract for the maximum amount of time allowed after winning it from Carat in 2011.
Optus shakes up roster
The year kicked off with telco Optus shuffling its entire roster, with UM appointed as its media agency.
The appointment saw the telco part ways with Starcom on both the Opus and Virgin media accounts, worth some $50m.
Vodafone moves away from Bohemia
In July, Vodafone shifted its $20m media account from independent Bohemia to GroupM as part of a global alignment strategy.
Australia was the only market outside of the GroupM arrangement.
While GroupM was expected to set up a bespoke offering Team Red, which services the telco in all markets around the world except Australia, Group M has said it won’t set up the unit locally, with the account joining MEC.
Team Red is aligned with MEC globally.
Aldi ditches Maxus
German supermarket giant Aldi handed its master media account to ZenithOptimedia in November, parting ways with Maxus.
The appointment of ZO ended Maxus’ 14 years on the account.
For ZO, the account win came just after missing out on the Coles media account having been one of the final three agencies in contention.
Specsavers names Initiative Melbourne as media agency
July saw Mediacom Melbourne lose Specsavers with the glasses retailer appointed Initiative Melbourne following a competitive pitch.
For Mediacom it followed on from a number of losses including the high profile AFL account.
Bupa shifts media from OMD to Mindshare
Australia’s biggest health insurer shifted its media to Mindshare, away from incumbent OMD.
The appointment followed on from a pitch process which saw the health insurer look for a “combined” media and creative solution.
It appointed AJF Partnership to handle creative.
Exiting CMO John Moore told Mumbrella he still viewed the new partnership as a “combined” media and creative solution.
“A combined media/creative solution is part of our continued focus on demonstrating Bupa’s position as a broad health and care partner for our customers,” Moore said.
“We’ve shifted the way we communicate Bupa from merely a health insurer to a leader in health and care, to reflect the reality of the services we provide. Our relationship with the AJF Partnership and Mindshare team will continue to build on that approach.”
Mediacom picks up Mars
GroupM’s Mediacom finished the year with a piece of good news, picking up the lucrative Mars account as part of a global review. The account was previously held by Starcom locally.
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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