Yahoo!7 appoints The Red Agency to handle public relations in Australia
From Text100 for Red
A big account move in Australia’s public relations sector has seen Yahoo!7 swap a technology specialist for a consumer PR firm.
The internet giant has appointed The Red Agency after a pitch that began in November last year.
Red, which is aligned with ad agency Havas Worldwide, saw off competition from a multinational and a smaller independent firm in a final round of pitching, Yahoo!7 told Mumbrella.
Incumbent Text100, a tech specialist, did not defend the business, bringing to an end a three-year working relationship with Yahoo!7.
“I’m a big believer in not making a pitch too onerous for agencies,” said Yahoo!7’s Amanda Miller, who ran the review. “A pitch needs to be a practical, reasonable process. We had a round of creds, then a shortlist, then we asked agencies to respond to a very specific brief.”
Miller said Red were chosen as they were “great people” and were a “perfect cultural match”.
“That Red is a consumer PR specialist did not figure in our decision to appoint them. It was because they are smart, pragmatic people who can get stuff done,” she said.
“They are capable of doing a whole range of PR, particularly in digital, and showed a strong mix of skills,” she added.
Red’s MD James Wright said: “It’s an exciting brand that is developing ground-breaking local innovations. The dynamic, innovative and fast-moving approach Yahoo!7 takes to its PR and marketing sits really well with how we work.”
“The win continues the momentum we built throughout 2012 when we picked up a number of major new business wins, plus 12 national and international industry awards, including a PRIA National Golden Target for Consumer Marketing and two Cannes Lions. We want to continue to attract the best talent to Red Agency across our three offices and working with the likes of Yahoo!7 is only going to help us with that,” he said.
