Westpac makes cuts to in-house media division
Westpac has made sweeping cuts to its in-house media division, Mumbrella understands.
Up to 30 staffers in the media team were unexpectedly told their roles were redundant on Wednesday.
Mumbrella understands Westpac has instead set up a new paid media team, with a newly appointed head to be announced in due course.
When asked to comment on the redundancies, a Westpac spokesperson told Mumbrella: “We often review our structure and ways of working to simplify the bank, better support customers and position our business for the future. This can mean changes are sometimes required to teams or roles.
“The changes we’ve made will help us deliver the bank’s strategy with dedicated marketing teams established to support our consumer, business and institutional divisions, as well our technology and business simplification program UNITE.
“When roles are impacted we provide our people with tailored career transition support to help them find new opportunities, either at Westpac or elsewhere.”
These redundancies come after the bank’s chief marketing officer Annabel Fribence departed in January, amid an overhaul from new CEO Anthony Miller. Former Westpac marketer Elaine Herlihy stepped back into the business as a strategic advisor and interim CMO.
As part of the changes, Miller created new reporting lines, and it was understood then that the bank was “considering options” for a permanent CMO in Herlihy. It was also believed at the time that responsibility for branding sat under then-customer and corporate affairs executive, Carolyn McCann.
Later this month, McCann will step into a new role as acting chief executive of Westpac’s consumer division. Meanwhile, Fribence has since taken on the role of CMO at McDonald’s Australia.
Westpac has previously, and continues to, engage with media agencies. In 2020, it appointed Publicis Media Australia to the account, following a closed pitch process. Prior to that, Westpac had a near 10-years working relationship with Group M.
Westpac’s creative pitch was also recently a hot topic. In October last year, it was revealed that the bank would part ways with long-term partner DDB Sydney, after 13 years. A month prior, Westpac had put the account up for review.
While the pitch was down to the final three in late December, it was reported that DDB Sydney was among a handful of agencies invited to re-pitch. In January, however, DDB Sydney confirmed it would make 15 redundancies, following the loss of the account. BMF was then named as the bank’s new creative and brand agency in February.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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