NBN eyes connection in $30m-plus media pitch; places focus on digital
Publicly-owned NBN Co is pitching its $30 million media account, attracting the attention of the market’s international holding groups looking to pry the account away from Mediabrands’ UM Australia, Mumbrella can reveal.
It is understood the telecommunications company has invited five agencies, including UM, GroupM’s Mindshare, and Publicis’ Spark Foundry and Razorfish, with the list to be shortened to three by this week’s closure. There are also two independent agencies in the running, with any existing telecommunications client conflicts ruling out other top media agencies.
An NBN Co spokesperson confirmed to Mumbrella: “The tender process to determine NBN’s media buying agency is underway. This process allows NBN to evaluate agencies and get value for money.”
In its process the NBN has big plans in the digital space, Mumbrella understands, with a push in performance media, rather than increasing brand work. It is also looking to push a drive for new customers, as competition from competing 5G providers heats up. Industry sources suggest its total media spend could rise well beyond the $30 million mark.
The federal government-owned corporation last released a brand campaign in November 2021 via creative agency BWM Isobar (now, Dentsu Creative), as it looked to establish itself as “Australia’s ever-evolving, digital backbone”.
NBN GM, brand and advertising, Mark Treadwell said at the time: “With the end of the build phase and a transition of our role to focus on continually evolving Australia’s digital backbone, we took the opportunity to embrace a creative step change and reposition the brand as an infrastructure custodian with plenty of flex for innovation.
NBN Co was established in 2009, in order to design, build and operate a wholesale broadcast access network across Australia, based on the purpose of connecting Australia and bridging the digital divide. It stated that its key objective is to ensure all Australians have access to fast, affordable broadband.
The Australian reported last week that the NBN is facing a “slide in demand as retailers ramp up the sales pitch on cheaper, faster 5G offerings”, with the competition watchdog considering a proposal from the broadband network “that could see internet bills double” over the next decade.
The article also read: “More than a quarter of Australians consider their phone and internet costs to be unaffordable, a recent study from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) found, and retailers are now increasingly pushing wireless 5G plans which in many cases are superior – and less expensive – than those offered by NBN.”
UM Australia continues to await the result of its attempt to retain AGL’s media account, with the energy provider putting its decision on hold as the future setup of the company remains unclear.
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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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