Mediacom’s affiliate office in Adelaide rebrands under the banner of rivals Carat
Simon Ryan:
Vicki Friscic and Simon Ryan: this will be Carat’s fifth office.
The Mediacom name has disappeared from the Adelaide market after its affiliate office in the city switched allegiances to rivals Carat.
The office, which is independently owned by Krystyna Wielgosz, gives Carat a fifth Australian location and a number of local clients in Adelaide, including home improvements business Stratco.
The move is effective from January 1, 2016 and will see Vikki Friscic continue to run the day to day operations overseeing 16 staff.
Carat CEO Simon Ryan told Mumbrella: “I’m very happy to be officially launching our fifth office in Australia. Our Adelaide office has a fantastic management group headed up Vikki and Krystyna and we’ll be working hand in hand to launch a number of new Carat initiatives for their clients.”
GroupM agency Mediacom insists it was the party to end the licensing arrangement, adding there is no impact on Mediacom’s national billings as the Adelaide office was independently owned and operated.
Mediacom’s national clients will be serviced by other GroupM agencies in Adelaide, where MEC is the dominant agency.
The agency is currently rebuilding local Australian operations following this year’s controversy over misreporting and valuebanks. Earlier this year, it appointed Sean Seamer as its new CEO replacing Mark Pejic.
Nic Christensen
Good luck with that one Carat….
Hmmmm, wonder why they didn’t want the Mediacom badge anymore….
Vicki looks stoked……….
There is such differentiation between the big multinationals – all you need to do is change the sign in reception and wham, bam – you become a competitor.
Carat is a great brand – nice move