Goodman Fielder moves media account from Slingshot to Initiative
Goodman Fielder – with brands including Helga’s, Mighty Soft and Wonder White – has parted ways with its incumbent media agency, Slingshot, moving the account to IPG Mediabrands’ Initiative. Slingshot has held the baking division account since 2014. In 2016, Goodman Fielder then also consolidated its grocery account with the agency.
In a statement given to Mumbrella, Slingshot CEO Simon Rutherford said the decision had come down to price.
Goodman Fielder has moved its media account as the business undergoes changes
“Goodman Fielder conducted a long procurement process for an agency who would do it for less and they found one,” he said.
Mumbrella can reveal the new agency working with Goodman Fielder is Initiative. Initiative declined to comment for this story.
The Goodman Fielder account for its baking division includes Helga’s, Wonder White and Country Life Bakery among other brands. The grocery division includes Praise, White Wings and Pampas.
At the beginning of 2019, Goodman Fielder changed its baking network, in a bid to ‘optimise and compete effectively’. The changes saw over 150 employees made redundant and several sites closed. In March of last year, First Pacific, a part owner of the business, sold its 50% share for a $400m loss.
Mumbrella understands that these changes directly impacted the relationship between Slingshot and Goodman Fielder.
Slingshot’s other media accounts include NSW Business Chambers, Australian Pork, 3M Australia and Daikin. Initiative is currently the agency of record for Deliveroo, KPMG, Carlsberg and Revlon among others.
Goodman Fielder has been approached for comment.
“Goodman Fielder conducted a long procurement for an agency who would do it for less and they found one.”
This could end up being my favourite quote of the year.
Classic Ruthers.
brilliant commentary from the slingshot CEO
Oh wow – such poor form to be making choices based on price.
Promises based on conversations that haven’t been had with media owners to see where they can move to and then get pressured to move to lower base line due to a deal out of their control.
Decisions need to be made based on the quality of work, planning, ideas and delivery – not price. Slingshot had a great team that worked really hard on this account, so this is even more disappointing.
This is beyond frustrating. The media world is just getting driven to the ground!
Wow. I cannot believe Simon said that. It must have been a really sour relationship towards the end.
Slingshot have some of the best strategic minds in market, and that’s what brands pay for when working with them. Glad to see they didn’t drop their pants, they clearly see the value of their talent, the work they produce and aren’t going to run them into the ground like every other agency would.
Good luck initiative, you have a lot to live up to.
Always wonder how the new agency will make money when agreeing to low remuneration. Do they suck it up, make a loss, work staff to the bone, just for the glory of a win or the ego of a CEO? (it happens)
Or do they do dodgy things and not tell the client / hide things to make money in lieu of properly disclosed fees? (also happens)
Either way, agreeing to unreasonably low fees and terms (180 days payment anyone), drives our entire industry to the ground and below
I think it’s refreshingly honest
Come on guys… you’re actually believing this from the agency that’s been dumped? Initiative isn’t exactly a behemoth that buys accounts
Well done to the Slingshot CEO! We cannot be a industry driven only by price. Goodman Fielder have lost a great agency
Probably would have been good if this were published once someone at GF had an opportunity to confirm or deny those claims.
Definitely Goodman Fielder’s loss. Slingshot do amazing work. Their Stategy team is incredible. Initiative have a massive challenge ahead to maintain the service Slingshot provided
class.
Slingshot pushed the media as hard as they could on price, without forgoing their integrity of course. Great agency, tough client.
All the best to Initiative
Its the way of the world when marketing is driven by procurement.
There are a myriad of FMCG clients that pay this way.
They will be the architects of their own and their agencies’ decline.
Well said, Ruthers. Would be good if an agency came up with an idea like “ditch the pitch” to get rid of these price driven, procurement run processes. Hold on…
look out current slingshot clients or anyone who asks them to pitch – if the agency loses they’ll just blame price/procurement and publicly slag you.
Agree – good on him
Sounds like sour grapes. Insulting clients and competitors so publicly is an ungracious emotional response from someone who is worried.
– insert generic agency rationale to why they lost the pitch –
If they were driven by price they wouldn’t have been with you as long as they were. Sounds like sour grapes more than reality.
It’s all well and good charging more if you can communicate value. Slingshot clearly failed to demonstrate the value in their pitch. I come across the same experience in my sales role, and work hard to justify my value. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail.
There are always many facets to a company’s decision. To believe the selection purely came down to price is naive, and personally, I would expect more from a CEO
Yeah and don’t believe everything you read in a bitchy press release from an agency that’s just been let go. You can pretend decisions like these are only about price if that’s what helps you sleep at night – but the reality is, it’s never ONLY about the money.
I’d like a quote from Initiative’s always complaining, over-worked, negative and resentful staff on another new client acquisition won purely on a willingness to beat everyone else to the bottom on price.
In what way has anyone been disparaged? No negative comment about the new agency or the client. Sounds to me like a simple account of the situation. If the pitch was driven by procurement then it was driven to drive down costs. Therefore they were looking for an agency to do what was being done for less. They found someone (initiative) to do that and they moved. I cannot see anyway how that is slagging anyone off – simple statement of the facts.
2020 certainly kicked off with a bang in Australian agencyland…
I’m surprised to see so many people were paying attention to the excellent strategy work Slingshot were doing for Goodman Fielder. I personally can’t recall any of the advertising but then I may not be the target audience.
I wonder if Tim has done an IP check on the comments for this article…
the comment made by Slingshot CEO shouldn’t be praised. It’s sour grapes – let’s blame someone else because it can’t be us, especially with all our recent awards on GF too…
It will be this:
“Or do they do dodgy things and not tell the client / hide things to make money in lieu of properly disclosed fees? (also happens)”
The thing is Mr Salesman, that when procurement in these large companies have no marketing knowledge, are incentivised on reducing cost, and are given the final say on the decision (as they are in many of these companies), it is nigh on impossible to communicate your value.
If you know the guy, you’ll see it’s not. Simon is a down the line, straightforward kind of guy, and a smart one at that. He’s just putting it plainly.
Have I missed something?
Where are the sour grapes?
You get what you pay for.
If you find an agency that will do it cheaper – good for you – but be prepared to get (or don’t get) what you pay (or don’t pay) for.