Wavemaker holds $50m Mondelez account locally in global pitch
GroupM’s Wavemaker has held on to the media account for Mondelez, two years after it was moved within the GroupM portfolio from stablemate Mindshare.
This comes following a global pitch, which saw Publicis Groupe take the account in many global markets including Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa Peninsula, South Africa and China.
A Mondelez spokesperson told Mumbrella: “To lead the future of snacking, we are continuing to evolve our operations to be more consumer-centric and digitally-enabled. After a careful review, we are proud to announce key media agency partners have been selected to build on this foundation and further accelerate our growth, with Wavemaker continuing to support our business here in Australia.”
CEO of Wavemaker, Peter Vogel told Mumbrella: “Wavemaker are incredibly proud and excited to continue our partnership with Mondelez in Australia. We look forward to building on our partnership, and continuing to drive growth for their brands by developing engaging consumer experiences.”
Mindshare won the account in 2018, moving from Dentsu’s Carat, with a portfolio of brands that includes Cadbury, Oreo, Pascall, and The Natural Confectionary Company. It is understood that Wavemaker will continue to hold the account in India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, while also winning the account in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Vogel and his team retain Mondelez in Australia
Mindshare was initially assigned the account after Wavemaker globally handled buying and planning for Mondelez globally, but locally the agency had an existing relationship with Nestle.
Nestle later moved its account to UM, removing the conflict. When it was shifted in 2018, Mondelez spent an estimated $40 million annually in Australia, now it is reportedly approaching the $50 million mark.
According to figures coming via RECMA earlier this year, Wavemaker is the market’s third-largest agency by billings and fourth in figures via Comvergence.
This comes as GroupM continues to gear up, nine months into CEO Aimee Buchanan’s tenure, with the group beginning to take a different shape from what was inherited in late 2021.
Wavemaker recently won the global media account for Audible, an account worth an estimated $50 million locally, while Mindshare retained its local relationship with Nike this month, following on from securing the Blackmores media account.
Mindshare is preparing for change with Katie Rigg-Smith soon to be replaced by Maria Grivas as CEO. Rigg-Smith will then take on her wider group role as WPP chief strategy officer at the beginning of October.
Elsewhere in the group, its merger of agencies Essence and Mediacom continues to progress locally, set to be made globally official on 1 January 2023. The agency will be buoyed by the recent retention of Myer, extending a 12-year relationship, alongside Mediacom retaining Mars in February, then winning the media account for the NRL.
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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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