Optus retains M&C Saatchi, dumps MPG; MPG boss: ‘No question of the MPG brand stopping its operations in Australia’
One of the longest pitches in recent memory, Optus, has ended in relief for ad agency incumbent M&C Saatchi and misery for MPG, which has lost the media business after nine years of service.
However, the pitch, which lasted ten months and cost agencies an estimated 8,000 man hours, will not mean the end of the MPG brand in Australia, a Havas spokesperson has told Mumbrella.
MPG, whose staff and clients resourced the re-launch of Aegis Media agency Vizeum in January, is 80% owned by Aegis and 20% by Havas, the French communications group that fully owns the MPG brand in other markets.
Havas Media’s Asia Pacific CEO Vishnu Mohan told Mumbrella: “There is absolutely no question of the MPG brand stopping its operations in Australia. We are a global network with a presence in 122 markets through the brands that we have across mainstream media, digital, mobile and sports & entertainment.”
Kudos to Team Tom.
You guys absolutely deserved to keep this account.
Another big dent in the Aegis/Mitchells alliance!
Not a bad follow up to snaffling CommBank, oh, and Etihad.
So after a pitch that went for more than a year we’re back where we started. It’s always tougher retaining business than winning it. You do gotta hand it to M&C, there’s good reason they’re the biggest agency with the biggest clients.
Wow, M&C’s still got it, literally.
8,000 man hours spent pitching and i’ll punt there’ll be more of the same rubbishy corporate dross trotted out by the client post-pitch.
why don’t these clients accept they get the advertising they deserve no matter which agency they work with and cut to the chase during the pitch process – start and end with price. saves the extended beauty parade and waste of everyone’s time.
oh, and i read just the other day that Optus have restructured their entire marketing department – great timing to conclude the pitch process with an entirely revamped internal marketing team. well-planned optus.
Big ups M&C.
lets be honest here , it was a fight to the bottom price war.
Sparks will fly – out the door.
Nice work Starcom !
Watch out for flying corks in Macquarie St.
I’m not surprised M&C retained Optus – the surprise was that Optus even pitched out to start with. I’ve always found the Optus advertising and branding very appealing – more so than any of the other telecom companies – so I would have thought it was a good idea to stick with the status quo and be ready when the audience starts to tire.
fair play to M&C, whatever people say about money and deals, to retain their biggest client after such a mammoth pitch is a big achievement
Starcom is located in Walsh Bay ~ Windmill Street not Macquarie Street.
This was a very involved pitch process, congrats to Starcom good luck with it.
M&C is in Macquarie Street, nimwit.
Well done to Starcom, a very long process but the best won out in the end! Congrats!
It’s not the ad agency they need to replace – it’s their law firm
Copping a $5 million fine for misleading and deceptive conduct last year is unforgivable as it was so predictable.
The management of Optus as well should hang their head in shame.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/.....6090135400
That’s a lot of mobile phones and plans they have to flog to make $5 million in profit.
Can’t be as long as the wearing down Woolworths pitches
We are a bit old for name calling “ungh” Was merely making a point to your open ended comment.
MPG and Starcom are next to each other in Walsh Bay. They can both go to the same pub to celebrate / commiserate.
u might be old but youre also a nimwit… we were talking about m&c
8000 hours? That is disgusting, what a waste – and I thought working with “another large telco” was a disaster!
Optus sounds like a lot of work for not much ROI. Don’t know whether to congratulate or commiserate with M&C and Starcom
No one believes the 8,000 hours claim surely …
Working for Optus’ agency is 1000 times better than working as one of Telstra’s roster of agency’s
@Felicity
That’s what I wanted to say but I thought that I might be censored 🙂