Saatchi & Saatchi chief executive Mark Cochrane. Photo / Supplied
Saatchi & Saatchi chief executive Mark Cochrane. Photo / Supplied
Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has claimed a valuable part of Westpac bank's advertising services.
The bank has confirmed that after a competitive pitching process, it appointed the agency to look after its retail creative business.
In addition to this, Westpac has also appointed Digitas to its direct marketing account.Both Saatchi & Saatchi and Digitas are owned by the holding company the Publicis Groupe.
Westpac NZ chief marketing officer Suraiya Phillimore-Smith confirmed to the Herald that this account move means the bank's relationship with DDB Group-owned Track has ended following the expiration of their contract.
Phillimore-Smith did, however, stress that the brand strategy and portion of the creative account remain with DDB.
To put this into context, advertising accounts are conventionally arranged in three parts: the media account, which focuses on the placement of advertising; the above-the-line creative account, which involves the creation of the major ad concepts we see on television; and below-the-line, which often involves direct marketing and retail work.
The latest move means that two core parts of the account are now held by the Publicis Groupe, with the organisation also winning the media account in a major pitch last year. To manage the hefty business, Publicis launched a new agency Spark Foundry and appointed respected operator Nicky Greville as managing director.
Phillimore-Smith made no secret of what drew to Publicis, describing the connected eco-system of agencies as an "enticing proposition".
Since being promoted to chief marketing officer at the bank in December 2020, Phillimore-Smith has not shied away from making big calls. In addition to these two pitches, she also gave the go-ahead to arguably the most controversial bank ad seen in years - an elaborate story by DDB featuring a friendly monster helping a girl to build a treehouse.
Whether you hate or love it, one thing that's certain is that it's incredibly tough to ignore.
Westpac's new campaign was strange for creative work from a bank. Photo / Supplied
Standing out in the competitive banking industry costs big money, as evidenced in Nielsen data showing that Westpac spent $22 million placing advertising across various channels in 2020. This was up on the $20.68 million spent in 2019.
Given the concentration of Westpac work within the Publicis Groupe, the pressure will now be on DDB to hold onto the last piece of the puzzle.
A source speaking to the Herald under the condition of anonymity suggested that the direct and retail work which has left the DDB Group would've been worth around $2 million in revenue and would have required around 12 staff to manage.
Asked how many staff would be leaving Track off the back of this account move, the agency's managing director Rob Limb said that they were hoping to keep the disruption to a minimum.
"While there's no doubt Westpac was an important client, we're pleased to have minimised any impact to our people," he said.
"The majority of people working on Westpac are now working in other roles within DDB or within Track on other business. The team at Track has doubled in size since 2019 and there are always roles for great people within our portfolio of clients."
The win continues a rich run of form for Saatchi & Saatchi, which appointed Mark Cochrane as chief executive in 2021 and Steve Cochran as chief creative officer not long before that.
In addition to the Westpac work, the agency has picked up a number of decent pieces of business, including ANZ's Fifa Women's World Cup campaign, Tiger beer, Z Energy and a number of Tourism NZ Projects.
"It's a testament to the people of Saatchi, our transformation plan at work and the focus on culturally led creativity and ideas," Cochran said.
The agency has also had its work applauded on the award circuit, landing the coveted Grand Axis for a campaign for Global Women and the Grand Effie for its recent work with Toyota.
Advertising has long been a cyclical industry, where success often comes as quickly as it goes. The question now is how long Saatchi will be able to keep this run of form going.
