Year long search for new media agency comes to an end as Deakin Uni appoints Mediacom
Deakin University has appointed Mediacom Melbourne following a year long search for a new media agency.
The university first announced the media pitch in June of 2014 after the account left incumbent Cummins & Partners, but was forced to cancel the tender in November after a “change in requirements”, which came at the same time as a number of large media pitches were occurring in the Melbourne market.
Mumbrella understands a number of media agencies at the time declined to pitch due to the workload involved, with the process restarting this year leading to Mediacom landing the $1.5m media account.
In a statement, Deakin University confirmed the account move after a four-way pitch, with Omnicom media agency M2M handling the business for the past 12 months.
Anny Havercroft, general manager, MediaCom Melbourne said: “Deakin University is a progressive university with a dynamic marketing team so we are thrilled to be partnering with a like-minded brand.
“Working with Deakin will enable us to deliver innovative communications thinking and execution as well as challenging the sector in how it uses digital, content and activation. We look forward to evolving their media communications strategy and implementation with smart and innovative solutions.”
Trisca Scott-Branagan, executive director of marketing, Deakin University said: “Deakin University is about inclusivity. By driving the digital frontier, we are able to deliver education and life experiences that enables our 50,000 students, our staff and the communities we serve, to collaborate in a globally-connected world.
“We are confident that MediaCom’s analytical, systems based and content focused approach will help us drive our new direction in our communications distribution.”
Deakin is one of a number of universities to have pitched their media in the last year in anticipation of the federal government’s proposals for the deregulation of the university sector, which is currently stalled in the Senate.
Among those to have changed agencies are Bond University which appointed MEC, Swinburne which appointed Initiative and Macquarie University which appointed 303Lowe.
Deakin appointed The Royals as their creative agency back in May.
Nielsen estimates the main media spend for Deakin at $1.5m.
Nic Christensen
Ground breaking reporting Mumbrella. Pretty sure this happened in April.
User ID not verified.