Bega denies Dare Iced Coffee re-pitch five months after M&C Saatchi win
Bega Group has denied re-pitching its Dare Iced Coffee creative account, despite heavy rumours in the industry that it has cut ties with M&C Saatchi Australia, less than six months after appointing the agency.
Mumbrella can reveal the company is instead pitching its Dairy Farmers account, which has been held by AJF Partnership for over five years.
A spokesperson for Bega Group told Mumbrella: “We are pitching out the Dairy Farmers creative business, not Dare”.
Despite this, industry rumours suggest the brand has in fact stopped working with M&C Saatchi Australia, and Mumbrella understands the account has instead been picked up by Thinkerbell.
In November last year, M&C Saatchi Australia announced it had won the account after a competitive pitch process, describing their chemistry with Dare Iced Coffee as “truly special”.
The news comes less than a month after chief strategist Emily Taylor departed the agency, and after a small number of redundancies and the departure of chief creative Cam Blackley last year. The agency filled the chief creative role shortly after, appointing Steve Coll. It also recently hired Scott Dettrick, formerly of The Monkeys, in a new joint ECD role alongside Emma Robbins.
M&C Saatchi had nabbed the Dare Iced Coffee account from the incumbent AJF Partnership, who was its creative partner for over a decade. The brand has also previously worked with indie agency Hardhat and Yahoo Creative Studio for campaigns in recent years.
The agency’s CEO, Michael McEwan, said at the time of M&C Saatchi’s appointment: “Our team is eager to join Dare’s journey and we’re looking forward to kick starting this collaboration and helping to deliver on their big ambitions.”
Bega Group’s general manager of brand marketing and innovation, Matt Gray, described M&C Saatchi as bold and forward-thinking, saying their appointment would “continue building Dare’s growth vision and cut through the mental clutter”.
A spokesperson for M&C Saatchi Australia told Mumbrella they are “unable to comment on Dare’s current process”.
Thinkerbell declined to comment when approached by Mumbrella.
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I can’t remember seeing a Dare ad in a long time.
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