Month in a Minute: August’s biggest agency stories
Mumbrella wraps up the biggest news of the month across media, creative and PR.
In August, Marcel's CEO resigned, The Royals lost iSelect's creative account after less than a year, Uber hired a new director of communications, Edelman Melbourne appointed a new MD and Group M's Mindshare and Mediacom won multi-million dollar accounts
August’s creative agency wrap:
1. TBWA Sydney found itself in the midst of a legal battle
The legal battle began after a former employee filed documents in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia claiming she was fired for lodging bullying and harassment claims against the ad agency’s Sydney managing director.
TBWA strongly denies the claims, and instead alleges the former planning director was let go due to serious misconduct.
2. Marcel’s CEO Gavin Levinsohn resigned
The CEO and national managing director of Marcel said he has made the decision to leave the industry altogether.
3. Host/Havas’ chief creative officer Darren Spiller exited the agency after less than two years
Spiller said he would announce his next move in “due course” and was going to spend some time with his family.
4. Thinkerbell launched its first work for Vegemite
The ‘Taste’s Like Australia’ campaign starred Australian icons including Pauline Hanson, The Big Prawn, Rebel Wilson and Ned Kelly.
5. Saatchi & Saatchi won NRMA Group’s creative account
The Publicis owned agency will now work with CX agency MercerBell and Blue449 on the account.
6. iSelect ended its relationship with The Royals after less than 12 months
Mumbrella understands Melbourne-based advertising agency Fenton Stephens won the creative account from The Royals without a pitch.
7. Clemenger BBDO Melbourne won BMW Group’s creative account
The agency will now handle the advertising for BMW Group’s brands which includes BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce.
August’s PR agency wrap:
1. Uber appointed Michelle Wood as director of communications
Wood replaced Cara Mygind who exited the role after just four months.
2. Edelman Melbourne hired Scott Thomson as managing director
The independent PR agency lured Thomson back to Australia from his previous role as Edelman Toronto’s deputy general manager.
3. Cameron Thorburn exited Weber Shandwick to become PPR’s director of digital and creative
Thorburn was previously Weber Shandwick’s head of digital and creative for three years.
4. Sydney Zoo appointed Red Agency to its PR account
Red Agency became Sydney Zoo’s PR agency of record and as a result will now handle the zoo’s influencer engagement, content development, issues management, media relations and grow its brand awareness.
5. Deliveroo chose Edelman as its corporate and brand communications agency of record
Edelman also managed to win ride sharing service DiDi’s PR account.
August’s media agency wrap:
1. Mondelēz moved its $40m account from Carat to Mindshare
Group M’s Mindshare will now handle all of the media planning and buying for Mondelēz’s brands which includes Cadbury, Oreo, Pascall, Philadelphia and The Natural Confectionery Company.
2. Mediacom scored Mars’ global media account
In another win for Group M, Mediacom will now lead the media planning and buying for Mars brands including M&Ms, Snickers, Whiskas, Smackos, Masterfoods and Wrigley.
3. Denstu Aegis Network retained Disney’s $19.4m media account
Mumbrella understands the account will be serviced by a bespoke agency created from resources across the group.
4. Blue449’s CEO John Preston was promoted to chairman of Publicis Media Australia
Preston’s promotion to the newly created role means he will no longer be the agency’s CEO when he starts his new role at the end of the year.
5. Louisa Mennell became Ikon Communications’ national head of performance
Prior to joining Ikon, Mennell was a partner of paid search and social at Mindshare Worldwide in London for a year.
6. OMD appointed a new chief digital officer Sian Whitnall
Whitnall was promoted from her previous role as the agency’s head of digital in Sydney.
7. Blue449 won PZ Cussons $5m media account
The media agency will handle PZ Cussons’ media planning and buying across Australia and New Zealand.
Linkedin
Good to see half of these news stories were lifted from AdNews. Keep up the good work
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Hi ‘Exclusive’,
Sorry you feel this way. Month in a Minute is an original monthly column I started at the beginning of the year. As you can see, all the stories I refer to are linked to a full Mumbrella article. As the industry isn’t very large there is a lot of cross over in content and therefore because it is news worthy, both AdNews and Mumbrella cover the same stories as do B&T and Campaign Brief.
Hope this might have cleared up any confusion you had and for your reference, here are the other monthly columns:
https://mumbrella.com.au/month-in-a-minute-mays-biggest-agency-stories-518292
https://mumbrella.com.au/month-in-a-minute-junes-biggest-agency-stories-524106
https://mumbrella.com.au/month-in-a-minute-julys-biggest-agency-stories-532302
Thanks,
Abigail – Mumbrella
All omnicom companies seem to have the same strategy for dealing with the bad behaviour of their managers – blame the employee, get rid of them and then make up lies about them. Shame
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Hi Abigail
What is the latest on the TBWA legal battle? Have other people come forward corroborating the stories of bullying and abuse?
Thanks
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Hi “What’s the latest?’,
The matter is now before the court and there is a hearing at the end of the year.
I will be sure to keep you updated when it is heard before the court.
Cheers,
Abigail – Mumbrella
Thank you. Here’s hoping the fact this is before the courts makes other people in power think twice before they act.
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