Pitch Watch: Foxtel’s new roster; Compare the Market; Menulog; Procter & Gamble
Mumbrella casts an eye over the major media, creative and public relations pitches at play in market.
In this wrap up the latest on: Foxtel (expands roster); Compare the Market (new direct and digital pitch); Menulog (creative account); Procter & Gamble (speculation after global shift).
Foxtel roster shakeup – creative
Almost 20 years after Neil Lawrence opened the Sydney chapter of Whybin\TBWA, poaching the Foxtel account from his former employer Young & Rubicam, Foxtel appears poised to return to the agency.
Foxtel has denied it has placed its creative account with Clemenger out to pitch, but the subscription TV broadcaster has been knocking on the doors of agencies as it completes a suite of projects and the big winners appear to be Whybin\TBWA and Cummins & Partners.
Both agencies are now working on projects for the subscription TV broadcaster, with Whybin focused on the Foxtel brand and Cummins working with Fox Sports.
Whybin adds Foxtel to its existing work on Foxtel’s streaming platform Presto.
Mumbrella has learned Cummins & Partners has joined the Foxtel handling Fox Sports roster for an unnamed project.
At the same time, Foxtel has also farmed out work on behalf of Fox Sports to agencies on a project basis as the sports broadcaster prepares its marketing push for next year.
Fox Sports will have more NRL games to market next year under the new broadcast agreement and it will also have to account for the loss of the broadcast rights to the English Premier League which it lost to Optus in a surprise move last month.
Compare the Market – direct and digital
Insurance comparison website Compare The Market has this afternoon issued a statement clarifying that it is not pitching media but instead looking for agencies in the direct and digital space.
The company, best known for its “Compare The Meerkat” campaigns, yesterday had originally confirmed it was pitching media.
“Compare the Market has been engaging in a Direct Response/Digital pitch, which we will discuss publicly when we are further through the process,” said Anna-Maree Shaw, marketing director, Compare the Market.
“This does not include the purchase of media which will continue to be handled in-house.”
A number of agencies are thought to be on the shortlist with the pitch tipped to be completed before Christmas.
Menulog orders up new creative with M&C Saatchi
Online takeaway food specialist Menulog has handed its account to M&C Saatchi following a competitive pitch.
The company dominates 80 per cent of the local online delivery market, offering users access to takeaway and home delivery from more than 5,000 restaurants around the country.
Menulog is the local division of global online food company Just Eat, which acquired Menulog earlier in the year.
Barnaby Dawe, Just Eat’s global chief marketing officer said: “M&C’s reputation in Australia preceded them and they didn’t disappoint with some great strategy, creative thinking and a hugely collaborative approach. We can’t wait for them to join us on this next exciting phase in our growth story.”
Before appointing M&C the business did not have an agency of record in Australia.
All eyes on Procter & Gamble in 2016
Many in the media agency landscape are keeping an eye on global FMCG giant Procter & Gamble after it announced it was moving the bulk of its North American media buying from Publicis to Omnicom.
Locally the account is worth some $45m and is currently held by Mediacom.
Omnicom has announced it will launch a third network to handle the account with Starcom Mediavest and Carat both retaining parts of the business.
What the changes mean for the local market are unclear, but you can be sure that a number of local media agencies will be eyeing the account.
Simon Canning and Nic Christensen
Foxtel are going in house
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Not winning Foxtel is the best Xmas present any agency can have…
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