Pitch Watch: Coles owner kicks off pitch; AFL pitches media; Priceline’s new creative shop; Guinness World Records names PR winners

Mumbrella casts an eye over the major media, creative and public relations pitches at play in market. 

In this week’s wrap up: Wesfarmers (new media pitch); AFL (new media pitch/shortlist); Priceline (decided creative pitch); Optus Business (PR/social account changes); Guinness World Records (PR account win).

Wesfarmers prepares for $221m pitch 

The 2016 pitch year is set to kick off with a bang with Coles owner Wesfarmers sounding out the major media agency holding groups ahead of an imminent media pitch, Mumbrella can reveal.

Wesfarmers is the parent group for businesses including Coles, KMart, First Choice Liquor, Bunnings Warehouse, Coles Insurance and Target among others.

It is understood that a request for information (RFI) has been sent out to most of the major groups in Melbourne,  for what is likely to be the biggest media pitch of the year.

IPG Mediabrands agency UM the incumbent on the account, while rival Publicis agency Mediavest are thought to be set for a red-hot tilt at the business after poaching Peter Butler, one of the people who lured the account to Mediabrands, to lead its Melbourne operations at the end of last year.

At this stage it is unclear which agencies will be asked to submit a request for proposal (RFP) should a formal pitch be called, but it is likely that most groups will participate.

Dentsu Aegis is the only group unlikely to be involved given its agency Carat has rival Woolworths. While Starcom which has Metcash and Maxus which has Aldi would also not be expected to be involved.

Coles had not responded to requests for comment at the time of posting. All agency holding groups contacted declined to comment.

Nielsen estimates the media spend of Wesfarmers at $221m with $56m of that on Coles Supermarkets.

AFL pitches media account 

Also in Melbourne major sporting code the AFL is pitching its media account, Mumbrella can reveal.

The pitch was called in December, putting incumbent Mediacom on alert, with a number of Melbourne agencies understood to be on the shortlist for the account which Nielsen estimates as having a $9m media spend.

While the account is not considered that lucrative given much of the AFL’s spend is contra advertising negotiated with various media partners, it is a high prestige client and a number of Melbourne media agencies are thought to be in the mix.

Mumbrella understands the current shortlist sees Mediacom facing off against Carat, PHD, Starcom and Vizeum.

All agencies contacted declined to comment.

Priceline pharmacy picks Ogilvy Melbourne

After a competitive pitch national pharmacy chain Priceline has handed its account to Ogilvy in Melbourne, the first major win for an STW Group agency since WPP took a controlling stake in the business late last year.

The agency will handle all creative for the retailer which focuses on health and beauty.

Ogilvy’s appointment brings to an end the relationship with incumbent Girl.

Priceline Pharmacy general manager marketing, Mark O’Keefe, said that Girl had made a substantial contribution to developing Priceline Pharmacy to its market position today.

“Girl has been an integral part of our development and we thank them for being part of our successful journey,” said O’Keefe.

The chain has 420 stores Australia-wide.

Ogilvy Melbourne group managing director Jo Rozario said the agency was pleased with the win.

“Priceline Pharmacy is a business that has a genuine knowledge of its customer and clear sense of purpose. We were excited from the outset at the prospect of working with them and expanding on their incredibly strong base. We are very much looking forward to getting started in the coming weeks,” said Rozario.

Optus Business expands Ogilvy remit in PR and social

Optus Business has expanded Ogilvy Group’s remit to cover public relations and social media activity following a competitive pitch process, Mumbrella can reveal.

The Ogilvy Group picked up the PR and social media account from incumbents Text 100 and 1000 Heads who were involved in the pitch process.

Ogilvy will now be responsible for the Optus Business brand, digital and PR, and has also expanded its remit to do some project work for Optus’ Wholesale business.

It was thought Ogilvy had lost its position on the account following the resolution of the wider Optus pitch last week, having picked up the Business account at the end of 2014.

Optus Business, which provides information and communications technology services for medium to large sized enterprise and government customers, thanked both Text 100 and 1000 Heads for their work and support.

The telco’s agency reshuffle saw M&C Saatchi retained on the roster, joined by Big Red, Emotive, With Collective, AKQA and The Works.

Thrive PR was appointed as the telco’s PR agency at the end of last year.

Guinness World Records appoints Red Agency 

Guinness World Records, the global authority on record breaking has appointed Red Agency.

The PR pitch was announced in October last year with Red Agency winning the account for both consumer and B2B PR activity in Australia and New Zealand in 2016.

Nadine Causey, Guinness World Records senior vice-president of APAC, said: “Australia is an exciting growth territory for Guinness World Records in terms of enthusiasm and passion for record breaking.  The response to our agency brief was overwhelming and all agencies involved had great presentations and ideas.

“We felt, however, that the Red Agency’s response went beyond what we had originally asked for and their ideas, brand values and growth ambitions were most closely aligned with our own. We looking forward to working with them to grow the success of the Guinness World Records brand in Australia and New Zealand.”

Adam Freedman, account director, consumer at Red Agency, said:  “We can’t wait to get started and help people and brands across Australia and New Zealand to break a record. We encourage anyone that is up for the challenge to contact us.”

Australia is the fourth largest market for Guinness World Records Publishing after the UK, US and Germany.  Over the past year, Guinness World Records has worked with numerous household names in Australia including Momentum Worldwide, Pacific Magazines, Dymocks, Woolworths, Habitat and IKEA.

Nic Christensen, Miranda Ward and Simon Canning