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M&C Saatchi and The Works dropped from full-time Optus roster as telco shakes up creative arrangements

M&C Saatchi and The Works have been dropped from Optus’ main creative roster following the telco’s review of its agencies.

Optus announced today it has made the decision not to pitch its roster to save time and money, and instead spent time “mapping and understanding the market”.

Along with making 72andSunny a “full-time partner”, Optus will work with M&C Saatchi-owned Re, Emotive, Big Red, and recently created internal agency the Yes Agency to fulfil its creative duties.

Optus: Foregoing a pitch ensured new relationships were formed under “the right conditions”

The telco announced it was entering into an arrangement with 72andSunny to work “on a range of projects” last week.

The Works and M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment will “continue to work with Optus on bespoke projects”, the telco said, but are not listed among the agencies on its creative agency roster.

In June 2015 Optus reviewed its media, PR and creative accounts, which at the time were held by M&C Saatchi and Starcom.

It later appointed Big Red, M&C Saatchi, The Works, Emotive, With Collective and AKQA to its retail, digital, social and creative accounts.

Mel Hopkins, director of marketing communications at Optus said: “We want to thank both current and past partners for their effort and smarts in helping build our brand. As a business, Optus is transforming from the current prolonged agency pitch process and how we approach creativity in general. We believe these are the right steps to take, if we truly want to shake up the space we are in. ”

Chris Kay, from 72andSunny added: “The way the Optus team have approached this process was pretty refreshing, as it allowed us to get to know them, the other agency partners, and really clarified the role that we could play in the future growth of their business. We are honoured we have been given this opportunity to help a great Australian brand grow.”

Jamie Gilbert-Smith, managing director of M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment told Mumbrella: “M&C Saatchi were appointed as the sponsorship specialists for Optus at the start of the year. They did not pitch for the business as Optus believes in business partnerships built on relationships rather than the traditional and impractical pitching model. As they, they were appointed on a rolling project basis and will be continuing in this role beyond their current work on the Commonwealth Games.”

Mumbrella has approached The Works for comment.

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