Diageo dumps Ikon as strategy moves to Leo Burnett, with buying overseen by Mediavest
Alcoholic beverages company Diageo has dumped its media agency Ikon Communications and appointed creative agency Leo Burnett to handle its media account.
The company confirmed the move this afternoon, with the deal seeing the Mediavest arm of Starcom Mediavest overseeing the buying part within fellow Publicis agency Leo Burnett.
The loss of the account is another blow to Ikon which in the last year has lost a number of major accounts including Vodafone, Coca-Cola, and RACV WA.
Speaking to Mumbrella in Cannes, chairman of Starcom Mediavest John Sintras flagged that the company was looking to differentiate its Mediavest arm, after rumours emerged it might be rolled into a full-service offering with a sister agency.
Surely a price sensitive announcement for STW?
How many times has Mr Greet lost the Diageo account? Didn’t he say bye to it at Mindshare as well?
Cue CBA to move and that’s about it, right?
This is a really sad day. Like Campaign Palace, Ikon is a once brilliant agency that feels doomed. I hope they retain CBA and rebound quickly…
Sadly Bob Turner has a point. It wasn’t just the management team departures (Dan Johns et al) that has sowed the seed of Ikon’s demise. The departures since of long-standing Ikonoclasts, Brett Dawson (to launch Bohemia), Nicole Turley, Pat Crowley, and now Dave Scott will have left gaping holes that don’t appear from the outside-in to have been filled adequately yet………
I hope sincerely that James Greet and his recruits can turn it around before too much longer.
It’s been a year since a raft of high profile / senior exits. Greets appointment called out his turnaround abilities, instead there’s been a succession of losses and now to the most uncommon type of competitor.
When’s the turnaround coming?
That aside, Burnett’s should be credited for pulling off an outstanding coup for itself and the wider Publicis Group. Ironically it was Ikons owner STW, which pioneered a village model to service all a clients needs. Burnett’s took it to the next level.
Well played.
Surely there will be more people talking mergers now?
This is a really smart way to launch the mediavest brand in the market, not just use it as conflict brand.
The previous management was ousted because STW honchos wanted to change the agency. Congratulations Mike, Chris, job well done.
Surely the story here is that Leo’s are handling the media.
Yes Ikon was once a really good agency. Sad to see what it has become. These things tend to go in cycles so perhaps it will bounce back.
I think Diageo should also be high fived here. Congrats Adam Ballesty and team. A brave jump into a brave new (very old) world. Its clear that Leo Burnett Sydney has been an outstanding, award winning partner for a long time. However to be the first to take this jump is just another exmaple of the way you go about your business….. I tip my hat to you. Good luck and may many wish they had the balls you clearly do.
Momentum is an unstoppable beast ( ask Droga5), when the doors blow open its hard to keep your clients. I hope Ikon have CBA on a long and water tight contract as the role M&C are on its highly likely there have been talks in Maquarie St about getting the CBA media.
The writing was on the wall once Simon and Gary left Ikon. The place was never the same after STW took full control. Bit of a shame really. The same thing is happening with Moon too.
Ikon won Diageo when Gary and Simon were pretty much out.
Seems more about the client than the agency. Significant shift from Diageo – a company that just 2 years ago seemingly had more agencies on retainer than actual marketing staff … now it’s streamlined to just 1.
Media agencies are pretty much useless anyway, except for buying.
Look at the recent Rouse Hill debacle. Who was in charge of where, when and how those ads ran?
@ Meh – If that’s the attitude, “useless except for buying”, what would you expect? The person in charge is always the client if I recall, seeing they sign off the dollars. You sound a bit like one of those clients that blames everyone else rather than take ownership of your own marketing decisions. Either that or you just have no idea where these responsibilities should lie
The Australian (and especially Sydney) media landscape is so ridiculously bloated more moves like this are inevitable. The days of ‘media’ and ‘creative’ agencies are numbered, and within 5 years we will be down to less than 10 full service ‘advertising agencies’ accounting for 90% off all media billings. There will always be the smaller boutique players (taking up the remaining 10%), but if a country the size of Australia can’t even support more than 4 major banks or 2 major supermarket chains, I don’t see how 20+ dedicated media agencies can go on, often with planning and buying further fragmented.