With Collective expands to New Zealand with ASB Bank as foundation client
Dentsu Aegis’ Sydney-based creative agency With Collective has opened its doors in New Zealand after winning New Zealand’s ASB Bank.
ASB, a long-standing client of Dentsu Aegis Network New Zealand, will be the agency’s foundation client.
The account was previously held by Saatchi & Saatchi for five years.
With Collective will offer direct, digital and data marketing services and will launch with an initial team of six as it looks to collaborate with Dentsu Aegis Network’s New Zealand-based brands.
The expansion follows the announcement of With Collective joining Isobar Australia Group, made up of Isobar, Soap Creative and With Collective.
Justin Hind, chief executive officer and co-founder of With Collective Linked by Isobar, said the agency’s model of combining strategy and creative, through to customer experience will complement existing services by Dentsu Aegis Network.
“We believe strongly in the combination of logic and magic; that is, insight gained from data mixed with persuasive creativity. We know this will be an effective model for ASB as it continues to grow in dominance in the New Zealand market,” Hind said.
“Expanding into New Zealand has been a goal of ours for some time and I’m very excited to do so with a foundation client the size and strength of ASB. This move underpins the importance of being part of Dentsu Aegis Network and further reinforces the power of our operating model across the region.”
Shane Evans, ASB’s general manager of marketing said the new partnership was “important” for the ASB, as it develops its marketing model.
“Our goal is to create and deliver personalised experiences for our customers, supported by data-driven insights and marketing optimisation.
“With all this in mind, we’ve been impressed with With Collective’s strengths in data-led creativity and are looking forward to working with them locally,” he said.
With Collective’s expansion into a new market follows a number of hires by the agency over the past six months, and Dentsu Aegis’ acquisition of the agency in September last year.
At the time of the acquisition, Justin Hind, CEO and co-founder of With Collective said: “We’ve always aspired to become a major force in modern, future-focused, digital and data-driven marketing and CRM. Being part of the Dentsu Aegis network will allow us to accelerate that for the agency, our clients and the wider Dentsu Aegis group.”
Following the acquisition, the Sydney agency hired ex R/GA creatives Will Winter-Irving and Pat Anderson, Dan Bolton and Barnaby Packham from Havas London, launched a new content division led by Iain Todd, and more recently announced the promotions of Adam Parsons as general manager and Josh Sandford as client service director.
The agency’s Australian clients include Qantas, Fairfax Media and Optus.
