Myer opts for Clemenger Melbourne after year-long pitch
Department store giant Myer has picked Clemenger BBDO Melbourne as its creative agency following a long-running pitch which this month entered into its second year.
A Myer spokesperson confirmed the appointment to Mumbrella, with the account to change hands officially next February.
Last December the retailer shortlisted its agency of more than a decade, Badjar Ogilvy, and Clemenger Melbourne while in June, Myer appointed Daniel Bracken to lead its marketing and technology operations after a series of changes in the marketing department.
In a statement released this afternoon Myer CEO Bernie Brooks said: “We are excited to bring Clemenger on board, and look forward to a fresh new approach in our advertising and marketing strategies.”
Ogilvy’s loss of the account follows on from STW CEO Michael Connaghan stating the group needs to improve its new business record.
At a public briefing on the group’s financial results last week he said: “Our new business performance has not been up to our expectations, we’ve actually lost a couple of accounts and there’s been a couple of pitches out there which we would have hoped to have won which we didn’t win. That is something we need to address, there is plenty of opportunity in the pipeline for us in the second half.
“There’s always swings and roundabouts in new business wins and losses, that’s the nature of our game. What we’ve been very good at for a long time is making sure that we win more than our fair share, and I’m absolutely not trying to sugarcoat the reality of our first half this year, we won our fair share but we didn’t win more than our fair share, it’s something that we are addressing and we’re confident in the second half we’ll get back to our higher expectations.”
CEO of Ogilvy Australia David Fox said: “Ogilvy is incredibly proud of the countless effective campaigns it has created for Myer over the past decade. Naturally we are disappointed we will not be continuing our successful working relationship beyond February next year, however we wish them every success for the future.
“We have always done great work for Myer. Our main objective now is to continue to produce great work and help Myer through the transition period until its new agency starts next year.”
One20, part of the Ogilvy Group, will retain Myer’s photographic production business.
At the start of the month, the retailer kicked off its 2015 spring/summer campaign with a beach themed campaign shot in Fiji and created by Ogilvy Melbourne.
Updated 2.17pm: This afternoon Myer has released a statement on the move:
Myer CEO Bernie Brookes announced today that the Clemenger Group has been selected as Myer’s new creative agency.
“We are excited to bring Clemenger on board, and look forward to a fresh new approach in our advertising and marketing strategies,” Mr Brookes said.
Mr Brookes said the decision was difficult because of the excellent quality of the proposals from the two shortlisted candidates, Clemenger Group and Myer’s creative agency for more than ten years, STW’s Ogilvy & Mather.
“I want to thank the team at Ogilvy & Mather who have served Myer so well over the years. STW will continue to be an important partner to Myer in a range of other marketing services,” Mr Brookes said.
Clemenger Group Chairman Robert Morgan described the win as one of the great moments in the agency’s history. “Myer is such an important part of Australian life. It’s a real privilege to be entrusted with the opportunity to work with them,” Mr Morgan said.
The creative work will be led by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne in partnership with fashion specialist, Unit1. Clemenger clients include CUB, NAB, Mercedes-Benz and MARS.
Miranda Ward
Ouch
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This is laughable.
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sS desperate is cCemengers to gain new busines they will win this business and do it for no money.
Myer asks its agency to build an agency in the Myer building, then get the agency to pay rent.
Clems trots in all the heavy hitters who will never work on the business because it is not making any money.
Good luck to both. Each seems to be a fading icon brand
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Poor Stw, keeping the profitable prodution elements. Bet they are sad to lose the loss leadong AM and creative.
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Forgive my typos…you get the drift
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It’s interesting to watch these pitches over a number of decades, Myer problems have been and probably still are the lack of customer understanding and the poor merchandising decisions made by the people in charge. They, like many department store retailers, have forgotten that their merchandise buyers are really salesmen and not procurement decision makers. They have all lost the plot. Easiest decision to make? Change the agency. That’s why the advertising will have little impact on their results. My Myer? Not likely.
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Anyone shopped at Myer recently? Me neither. Anyone used to shop there? Me too.
They need more than a new agency IMO.
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If you’ve got five minutes, go to Myer’s website and look for a men’s jumper.
The results will give you an insight into the organisation’s biggest issues:
poor products
no curation
no hierarchy
a ridiculous number of products that you can’t possibly look through
no sense of the user and what matters to them
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OK I did that; http://www.myer.com.au/shop/my.....r-sweaters
That search and sort function is really hard to use and totally non-intuitive.
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Hahaha……One20 is where all the profit is made!
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Bernie Brookes has become the self proclaimed (and yes apparently he said it in the pitches) ” I am the Marketing Director”.
Clems have brought in failed Fashionistas because no one in at Clems knows the first thing about fashion or retail. Unit 1 have an unremarkable record of doing absolutely nothing for brands like Portmans. Hmmm.
So does anyone in this whole thing actually know what they are doing?
I feel for Badjar Ogilvy who built a strong production operation there and effectively became part of Myer…only to be cut adrift for a solution which wont be any better. Anyway..it is after midnight and I should stop writing. or it might get nasty
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THe website was done by DT Digital and I guess they’ll still be responsible for that misery..
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Nobody at Clems celebrated. Nobody.
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I really wish they’d put the digital to pitch. The site needs a total overhaul, not to mention the eCRM for MyerOne…
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Stevo and Cognitive Dissonance… Because they have men’s “Jumpers” under “Knitwear and Sweaters” Was Myer’s website search function and organisation done by an American??? I would have hoped that one of the last bastion’s of Australian owned retail might have kept some semblance of Australian English there. Seriously are they sorted by “color” too??? No Australian man will search for a “sweater”.. seriously.
It’s these little things that drive me mad- Australian’s don’t shop “High Street” brands (our shops aren’t on “the High Street” and we eat biscuits not cookies. These affectations by the fashion media and foreign advertising folk drive me mad. Can we all make a tiny effort to preserve even just some elements of Australian English????
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@aboutthatwebsite
Myer have an in house digital services department looking after both the website and the eCRM for Myer One.
To my knowledge DT are no longer involved with digital strategy or development.
But yes, agree the whole thing needs a total overhaul…from the inside out.
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Just as ”The moving hand once having writ moves on…..” so too the moving hand of Myer fucks another agency, and then moves on. Myer has been slowly decomposing since the days of Peter Wilkinson and Mattingly. It may still have happened with them but more slowly, less certainly .And with some style.
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I doubt DT would have advised Myer to go with with such a clunky search, nor the use of American language. Client has to sign off on these things and they obviously did so.
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When was the last time someone actually said on this blog…
“Wow, congrats Clems. Well pitched. Bad luck Badjar, you’ll bounce back.”
But no, Clems is a sinking ship isn’t it? It’s only won TAC, Seek, MLC and Myer in the past nine months. It only won 10 or so lions at Cannes (non of which have a hint of scam about them) not to mention wiping the floor with Asia at the AMEs.
Clems knows nothing about Fashion.. or Fashionistas right? Sure, but Bonds seems pretty happy with them.
Maybe Melbourne should just be an advertising outpost for Sydney? Would that make everyone feel better?
I don’t work there, but I did. And F*** me, they work hard for it.
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Stage two – competitor analysis.
Now go to H&M and look for a men’s jumper.
It’s so easy, on-style & cheap you’ll probably buy one (even if you’re not a man).
Curation
Hierarchy
Limited product range
Sympathy for the user journey
It shouldn’t be that hard.
Myer (still) have a strong brand in Australia. They’ve been run by arse clowns with their heads in the sand or Venture Capitalists looking for a fast turn around re-sell (sounds a bit like Fairfax, really).
If they can return to their basic brand values and work out how those exist in a contemporary retail environment (rather than listening to snake oil salesmen who obsess about where the roast nut counter is located) they can go forward in leaps and bounds.
Good luck, Ben.
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I’m sure Clems will do a bang up job.
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@sinking ship my arse…..Touche!
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Myer obviously still doesn’t consider the internet important to its business.
Anyway, congrats Clems, and commiserations Badjar. Or is it the other way round?
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@16 – Ok, just going by the work on DT’s website (which does include a lot of case studies of work for Myer, inc Myer One, site SEO etc)
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@steve @aboutthatwebsite DT haven’t touched Myer for over 18 months (after they took it in house). What’s presently online is entirely their own making.
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You’re only as good as the client that signs off the work.
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@Sinking ship my arse
I wouldnt bring up Cannes if I were you…bit on the nose. Scxam or not. Read the room.
Clems have won some ordinary bsuiness lately. SEEK? And TAC was a gimme.
Clems suffers from rival deficiency and at least a coupkle of agency in that town are putting up a grand fight.. You can figure out who they are.
This pitch wasy MYER hubris. And it was won by Clkems hubris. They needed to win this account to look big. But it will be their financial undoing.
And Bonds isnt fashion. It is a t and a show. At kleast it acts like a brand. But it aint fashion in the real sense of the word. And the fashionistas will crumble come the first failed sales resuklt.
Sorry you know nothing about the real world. Or a pathological Myer history.
Welcome. Get back to me in 12 months
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Bonds isn’t fashion, but the Bonds crew certainly think it is.
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If Bonds is fashion, then Maccas is fine cuisine…
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