The 2024 roundup: These were the standout creative pitches of the year
Mumbrella's Lauren McNamara recaps some of the huge creative pitches of 2024.
Much like their media agency peers, creatives have had an absolute ‘pitchapolooza’ in 2024.
Australian Defence Force
In November, TBWA\Melbourne confirmed its win of the Australian Defence Force Recruiting creative and digital account. It beat incumbent VML, who conceded defeat gracefully.
TBWA\Melbourne has been tasked with spearheading all creative communications and digital services output, partnering with Omnicom stablemate Credera – a marketing transformation and tech specialist – to integrate advanced data and technology solutions. It will sit alongside CultureVerse in the agency village, with the two agencies tasked with collaborating on methodologies that will help connect with, and influence, multicultural audiences.
“This appointment allows us to bring the best of our offering to the table, for the best of all reasons; driving recruitment for the Australian Defence Force,” said Kimberlee Wells, CEO at TBWA\Melbourne.
“We’re excited to harness our deep strategic and creative capability, cutting edge innovation and cultural intelligence tools, to deliver meaningful impact across the total brand experience. We can’t wait to get started.”
Macca’s
McDonald’s Australia is currently pitching its creative account, looking within its existing global roster for an additional agency to take on the Australian remit, alongside DDB.
Mumbrella understands DDB will remain the main agency of record for McDonald’s in Australia, while the pitch will look for an additional agency for various projects. DDB has worked on the brand’s creative since its Australian launch in 1971, with its current remit including brand, retail, sponsorship, and social.
“The successful agency will become part of our award-winning agency village, as we look to deliver highly effective and culturally relevant campaigns that drive our brand and business forward,” a Macca’s spokesperson said in October.
“It is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure we have the best partners and capabilities in place and follows on from our recently completed CRM pitch process earlier in the year.”
The pitch is ongoing, with speculation TBWA and Wieden+Kennedy are among the shortlist.
ANZ
In May, the Australian creative account for ANZ was taken to pitch, as the bank was looking for a new ecosystem of agencies to meet its ‘complex needs’. It is understood ANZ will continue to consider partners it has worked with in the past, with the focus of the RFP on creative strategy and development.
In October, it was confirmed that Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett would take on the account, commencing immediately.
Clare Pickens, CEO of Leos, said: “It’s a privilege to be selected as ANZ’s creative agency partner, which represents a new chapter for Leo Burnett in Australia.
“This collaboration provides a unique opportunity to leverage our strategic and creative expertise and support ANZ’s brand evolution. We are excited to work closely with ANZ to develop innovative and impactful work.”
Suncorp Group
In November, Suncorp Group confirmed it was ending its 20-plus year partnership with WPP, also announcing Leo Burnett as its lead creative agency partner.
In an effort to evolve its marketing operating model and consolidated agency requirement, Leos will lead the account from the start of 2025, which includes AAMI, GIO, Vero, and Hogarth.
Publicis Groupe ANZ CEO, Michael Rebelo, said: “The marketing transformation agenda and creative ambition of Mim and the Suncorp team is truly inspiring to be a part of. To be expanding our partnership with the rest of their iconic brands is a huge testament to the Leo Burnett team.
“We look forward to unleashing our production platform PXP and a range of our Publicis Groupe capabilities to support this next phase of their growth.”
Tourism Australia
While the account went to pitch last year, in April Tourism Australia named the agency that would handle its global creative and digital services.
It confirmed Accenture Song, Droga5, and The Monkeys (now Droga5) as its lead agency partner, who will provide the services for five years. The contract has been structured as an initial three-year deal, with options for two further one-year extensions.
Tourism Australia’s chief marketer, Susan Coghill, said Accenture Song’s response to the brief was best placed to allow the tourism body to change its marketing approach. At the time of the pitch announcement, she said that tourism marketing is constantly changing, and so too are the requirements from creative and digital agencies.
“We will be working closely with Accenture, The Monkeys and Droga5 to remind the world why ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ and are excited to learn more about the creative ideas and big thinking they can bring to the table as we look to get Australia’s tourism industry back on a path of sustainable growth,” she said.
Endeavour Group
In May, Mumbrella revealed the incumbents on Endeavour Group’s core brands – M&C Saatchi and Thinkerbell – were not taking part in the creative agency pitch process. Endeavour Group pitched the creative account, seeking one lead agency for its portfolio, including the core brands of BWS and Dan Murphy’s.
In July, the pitch was finalised with BMF taking the account.
“We made the decision to move to a single creative partner to help us lift the role and influence of creativity in our organisation,” Endeavour Group’s chief marketing officer, Jo Rose, said.
“BMF is known for their ability to activate creative work in an increasingly digital and data-led environment, and this is something we are incredibly excited to see them enhance across our brands.”
Westpac
In October, DDB Sydney and Westpac announced they will end their partnership in February 2025, after 13 years of working together. Westpac has put the account up for review as its looks to “move in a new direction”.
Westpac’s chief brand and marketing officer, Annabel Fribence, told Mumbrella: “I want to personally thank the DDB Sydney team for their 13-year partnership with Westpac and the contribution the team has made to our business and brand.”
In a statement from CEO Sheryl Marjoram, CCO Matt Chandler, and CSO Rupert Price, DDB Sydney said: “It’s a bittersweet farewell for us, as our time with the bank has resulted in some of the agency’s proudest moments.
The pitch is ongoing, with speculation it is down to Accenture Song, Howatson+Company, and Saatchi & Saatchi.
Myer
Clemenger BBDO and Myer made a similar announcement in November, sharing that their decade-long partnership would be ending.
Myer has taken the account to pitch, with the news coming in the same week that it merged with Premier Apparel Brands — comprising of Just Jeans, Dotti, Jays Jay, Portman’s, and Jacqui E — in a deal worth $864 million.
Clarabella Burley, chief marketing officer at Myer, said: “We value the partnership we have had with Clemenger BBDO for the past ten years.
“As we enter a new phase of growth, we are assessing all parts of our business and exploring new creative directions that will continue to engage our customers into the future.”
The pitch is ongoing.
Kmart
Marking another end of year pitch, Kmart has taken its creative account to market just two years after reuniting with Dentsu Creative.
In 2022, the retailer reappointed the Japanese holdco’s creative arm following a competitive pitch, as revealed by Mumbrella.
It had previously held a long-term relationship with the agency, which first won the Melbourne-based account in 2011 when the agency was then known as BWM, before moving to DDB Melbourne in June 2020. When Dentsu was reappointed, its first piece of work for the retailer was the 2022 Christmas campaign.
The pitch is ongoing, and Mumbrella understands Dentsu Creative has chosen not to re-pitch or contest the decision.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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