GroupM’s Wavemaker wins L’Oréal media account
GroupM agency Wavemaker has won the media account for L’Oréal Australia and New Zealand, following a competitive pitch. GroupM is part of WPP.
The incumbent agency of record is Carat, the Dentsu agency extending its partnership as recently as 2019.
The L’Oréal account is worth a reported $69 million.
Carat first won the account in 2013, which was worth a reported $40 million at the time, then retained the account following pitches in both 2017 and 2019.
L’Oréal is one of the world’s biggest beauty companies, with Wavemaker set to deliver strategy, buying and planning for the brand across both Australia and New Zealand.
Wavemaker holds the account in other markets, however does not hold the account globally.
Last week, regional CEO of Wavemaker, Peter Vogel spoke to Mumbrella about his return to the MFA board, the new age for media agencies and building credentials in a competitive market.
L’Oréal Australia and New Zealand CMO Matthijs van der Putten, said: “After a thorough agency review, where we included both full service and specialised digital agencies, Wavemaker stood out as the best partner for our continued transformation into a beauty tech company. During the process they showed that they have the right people and tools to support us in this transformation and our continued growth in ecommerce.”
The review process was overseen by Ebiquity, an independent advisor to manage the process on behalf of L’Oréal Australia and New Zealand.
The win also comes less than a week after OMD CEO Aimee Buchanan was announced as the next GroupM CEO.
On losing the account, Dentsu Media ANZ CEO, Sue Squillace, told Mumbrella: “We have accomplished an extraordinary amount together over the past 8 years and would like to wish L’Oreal every success for the future.”
“I would like to thank our team in Melbourne who have done an exceptional job on the account, and our broader agency who supported them through what has been a very long and intensive 10-month pitch.
“Each and every one of the team involved should be very proud of what has been achieved during such a critical time in our industry, and whilst managing BAU.”
Early last year L’Oréal, appointed communications agency Magnum & Co as influencer agency of record for its consumer products division, which includes brands Garnier, L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline New York and Essie.
In the past few years, Wavemaker has won a number of ‘new economy’ clients, including DoorDash, Netflix, AirBnB and Bumble.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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