The curious case of Vodafone, Hutchison and Ikon’s uninvited guest
Although the agency still hasn’t officially been told, Ikon appears to have lost Vodafone to Mitchell Communication Group in a blow all the more bitter after Mitchells CEO Stuart Mitchell turned up uninvited at Ikon’s anniversary party.
The Vodafone media pitch has become one of the most infamous of the decade after incumbent Ikon, along with PHD and Universal McCann, invested large amounts of time and money in bidding for the account before the process was put on hold due to the merger of Vodafone with Hutchison’s 3.
The merger saw Mitchells enter the frame via its existing relationship with Hutchison 3, which the agency did the media buying for. Despite it also holding the Optus account through Mitchells’ majority-owned agency MPG, senior sources within Vodafone have let it be known that the account is set to go to Mitchells.
The long standing relationship between Mitchells chairman Harold Mitchell and Vodafone Hutchison Australia boss Nigel Dews has been cited as a crucial factor.
Good on Mitchell – all’s fair in love, war and pitches.
Same as vodaphone the company, very sloppy, very tacky…who’d use them?
‘Vodafone’. There is no ‘ph’. Talk about sloppy…
I only wanted to use the gents!
Kings English my son, Kings english !!
If Mitchells were that rude, then their new recruit will fit into the culture perfectly!
I remember the Ikon guys heading off early after the B&T awards last year to work all weekend on the Vodafone pitch.
Those poor buggers have been well and truly screwed if the stories true.
If clients worked agency side for a month they’d die from the abuse.
The so called merger looks more like a take over every day between Hutch and Vodafone… Watch out Clems the reign of Dews’ is upon you!
hey Andrew, (Comment # 7)
I’ve done both client and agency side and let me tell you, it’s much better being a client.