‘Pretty disgraceful as pitches go’: Insiders slam Kia’s ‘disingenuous’ media pitch
In September last year, Kia Australia consolidated its approximately $34 million in media spend with Advertising Associates, concluding a competitive pitch process that has since become the subject of heavy scrutiny by many involved.
According to insiders, the pitch for Kia Australia’s media account first appeared to be a genuine approach to market by the client. However, sources have told Mumbrella that they felt the integrity of the pitch process came into question at its completion, with multiple insiders alleging that the appointment of Advertising Associates was influenced by a pre-existing personal relationship between two senior executives at Kia Australia and Advertising Associates.
When these allegations were raised by multiple independent sources, it was within our editorial mission to investigate the situation further.
Through this investigation, the information that has been brought before Mumbrella has left the impression that there are many questions about the media pitch process run by Kia Australia in 2023 that remain to be answered. Mumbrella has put these questions to Kia Australia and Advertising Associates.
In a statement sent to Mumbrella, a spokesperson for Advertising Associates said: “As your questions relate to a competitive pitch which is commercial in confidence, you should direct your questions to Kia, who ran the pitch”.
Kia Australia issued the following statement: “Kia Australia ran a competitive pitch last year that was conducted in the stringent process of any tender of this nature, including full financial and benchmarking audits. One of our incumbent agency’s won the pitch based on their presentation and we are satisfied with the process that took place and the outcome. So much so, our digital performance is already achieving double digit increases in results.”
Neither Advertising Associates nor Kia Australia responded to Mumbrella’s questions regarding the alleged personal relationship between two senior executives, or the other allegations contained in this article.
Sources have confirmed that the timeline for the pitch commenced in mid-2023, when Kia Australia sought to combine its digital and above the line (ATL) media accounts.
Mumbrella understands these accounts had been separated in 2020 when the automotive brand moved the latter from incumbent Havas Media Network to Advertising Associates without a formal pitch. This switch came just three years after Havas first won the account during Kia Australia’s 2017 media pitch, which aligned with a long-standing global relationship between Havas and Kia’s parent company, Hyundai Motor Group. The global relationship between Havas and Hyundai Motor Group was last reaffirmed in 2022 when the agency was reappointed as the Korean automotive group’s global media agency of record.
By July 2023, Mumbrella understands the shortlist for Kia Australia’s most recent media pitch was completed, not long after the automotive brand’s appointment of a new CEO in June. Over the next two months, the incumbents, Advertising Associates and Havas Media Network, would compete against three other shortlisted agencies for the brand’s sizeable consolidated media account.
Insiders told Mumbrella that after what had otherwise seemed like a standard pitching process, the eventual appointment of Advertising Associates was viewed as a controversial decision as the indie agency allegedly did not have the capability to effectively service the digital media portion of the account.
A number of sources close to the pitch spoke to Mumbrella about their experiences, but have chosen to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions. These sources claim that the process was ‘disingenuous’ from the start, describing alleged instances where they were misled by the client about the intentions of the pitch, and each agencies’ chances of success. There were also accusations of gas lighting.
“It was pretty disgraceful as pitches go,” said one agency leader. “We’ve all been involved in bad ones before, but the way that they behaved during the process… they should be working in Hollywood, not working in marketing.”
Mumbrella is not suggesting that everyone involved in the process behaved improperly.
This leader, and others, described a pleasant and encouraging experience with the Kia Australia executive team during the pitch process, and only came to understand the alleged inconsistencies of their behaviour once the winning agency was named.
Multiple agency leaders confirmed that their confidence in the process was bolstered by Kia Australia’s engagement of an independent pitch consultant. Unfortunately, their impression changed after the pitch consultant removed themselves from the project before completion, due to the client’s alleged disregard for the formal selection criteria.
According to multiple insiders, an agency other than Advertising Associates had emerged as the clear winner based on this criteria, but Kia Australia allegedly chose to override the outcome and appoint Advertising Associates.
Upon its appointment, Advertising Associates looked to hire a number of new digital roles as it prepared to take on the service of Kia Australia’s digital account. The agency has also since launched a new Sydney office.
“Our Advertising Associates team is growing and we are hiring across both Melbourne and Sydney markets. If you or someone you know is looking for a new and exciting digital opportunity we would love to hear from you!” wrote the agency’s director, Brett Carty, on a LinkedIn post in October 2023.
“Our Advertising Associates team continues to grow in 2024. We are #hiring for multiple roles across our Sydney team. If you or someone you know is looking for a new and exciting digital opportunity to work with the innovative Kia Australia Pty Ltd, then we would love to hear from you!” wrote head of digital, Matt Soulsby, in a separate LinkedIn post in January 2024, linking a job posting for an SEM executive role.
This role, and another job advertisement for a programmatic manager, were active on Advertising Associate’s company LinkedIn page until at least 13 February 2024. Another advertisement for a programmatic manager remains live.
Mumbrella understands Advertising Associates allegedly poached two staff members from Havas Media Network’s Sydney-based Kia Australia service team, with other employees of Havas said to have been offered roles.
Mumbrella understands that this is unlikely to be an isolated incident in the Australian advertising landscape. If you have concerns and ideas about our industry and how it can continue to be better, we welcome your contributions, tips and testimonies to be directed to our editor, via contact@mumbrella.com.au. We will honour all requests for anonymity.
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The broader Kia group should also do an investigation into this. Awarding a consolidated pitch to an agency that doesn’t have the required capability and also an average track record to boot, can’t be good for Kia. Shareholders should want and demand answers and accountability. Great reporting Mumbrella.
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Agencies: Please don’t just judge us on numbers, there’s so much more to our work & client relations that can’t be easily quantified
Same Agencies when losing: but our numbers were better….
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Large agency unhappy they can’t get incredible margins and incentives from publishers and technology partners, decide to slam a pitch as unfair
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Womp Womp
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There can only be one winner….
when hundreds of industry talent have invested their time, effort and energy into a pitch, and there’s positive winning feedback that the agency ranked highest on chemistry, strategy, rates…..then at the finish line told the goal posts changed then it’s unfair. When there’s no communication from the leaders to explain post pitch what happened it’s unreasonable.
Indies do it particularly tough in this situation…if there’s a process then stick to it.
Care about the effort and energy that is enormous from people who are not home to say good night to their kids to work on ideas to help your business grow. Care about the high cost financially and emotionally that goes into the effort to deliver the best. Care about choosing the best agency instead of the fellas just because we can.
Mumbrella I hope you can unpack this issue further.
We need marketers to stop horsing around! No doubt there’s more to unveil…..popcorn
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An agency complaining about being gaslit. Very rich to hear that, shoe clearly on the other foot now.
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This did not take 3 months to put together – sounds like it was written the night before.
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This piece reads like uncovering sandal of the century. It’s a non story.
Sour grapes from agencies who lost pitch. Suck up and move on.
Business decisions are based on relationships first and capability second.
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Sounds like a normal pitch to me, just a big media company bitching because they didn’t come away with the chocolates.
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Good job Mumbrella for calling this out. Best thing you’ve published in years
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He who holds the purse strings holds the power. Kia can do what they like. It’s their money.
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Sounds like sour grapes to me. You didn’t win the pitch. Move on.
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Great job mumbrella digging into this. I’d like to see more of this investigative reporting – it’s a big support to agencies and will help keep brands accountable.
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Sounds like an awful lot of horsing around
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We see this type of contra deal / back office handshake / back slaps with the boys in regional media all the time!
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This is exactly the kind of Article that Mumbrella should be writing – Well done on the reinvigorated content across the website and mumbrellacast.
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This is an age old problem. There is an incredible amount of work, stress, time and money that goes into pitching. Some clients don’t understand or appreciate that. Agencies pitch in good faith, but when clients change the goal posts at the last minute it’s both unprofessional and disingenuous. “Unfortunately, their impression changed after the pitch consultant removed themselves from the project before completion, due to the client’s alleged disregard for the formal selection criteria.” Says it all really.
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Think you are missing the point, the issue is credibility and misleading agencies to invest their own time and money into a process that likely only had one outcome from the start.
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This is an example of industry investigative reporting that we need more of. Please Mumbrella lead the way.
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Just because it happens frequently, doesn’t mean it’s right.
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This story just runs and runs
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Who was the pitch consultant?
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Suck it up & get on with life. You didn’t win the account because you were not not good enough.
Isn’t the advertising industry based on good relationships?
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This is the kind of reporting that is of benefit to the industry. Investigative pieces that hold everyone accountable, agencies and clients alike. Reminds me of the days of old Mumbrella.
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“So much so, our digital performance is already achieving double digit increases in results.”
They have either ramped up their spend in these channels or ramped up their view through attribution. Unless of course sales have seen double digit increases as well.
The client doth protest too much, methinks.
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Seriously? As an independent agency this was really enjoyable to read knowing the dummy spitting going on. At least the junior employees that would have been ultimately allocated to the account can grab your lunch and coffee still.
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Exactly he who owns the purse strings can buy as many race horses with his business mates to win big money has he wants! Move on agencies get with the 1960s!
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Incumbent agency lead and client lead on video kissing in a night club during a pitch springs to mind. It was sent to all agencies pitching. That resulted in the pitch being re-run from scratch, extending it by over year. Agency retained the client though and I am pretty sure it was the largest pitch in the USA that year.
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He who controls a thing…
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Or their previous agency were underperforming and that’s why they decided to take the account to pitch…
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