Unilever moves $59m local media account from Mindshare to PHD
Global FMCG giant Unilever is moving its $59m media account from Mindshare to PHD, Mumbrella can reveal.
It is the biggest account move in Australia this year and a blow to GroupM, which is currently undergoing significant management changes following the departure of CEO John Steedman last month.
For PHD the win will mean a considerable staffing up in its Sydney office which has come close in several major pitches in recent years, and has recently won Bayer, SAP, Priceline and Cancer Council. The agency’s biggest client is ANZ Bank.
Unilever brands include Lynx, Dove, Omo and Continental.
Poor buggers.
(I mean both PHD and Mindshare when I say that)
$59m? That’s 1/3 lower than 4 years ago… No?
OMD… I love their music
as uninformed outside observer;
is the supermarket duopoly destroying adland business along with the products and competition it squeezes out of the market?
This represents everything that is wrong with our industry at the moment. MindShare have had to go through 3 pitches in 4 years, and are probably happy to see it go. PHD will have promised unrealistic rates and service terms to ensure they win the business, and will find the massive amount of work on packaged goods client onerous to their culture. Media companies will have to have difficult conversations about the rates that were committed to through the process. Not to mention the poor brand managers at Unilever who will have to go through a difficult transition period, at a time when media is more complicated than ever. Apart from the pitch consultants, who wins in this?
Surely this year there is more work being done on pitches than actual client briefs? Someone is going to go out of business.
Good luck PHD, (you’ll need it), great headline grabbing account win. Surprised there’s no triumphant press release though – maybe one coming soon?
Bad luck Mindshare, but at least you can now focus on clients that are profitable
WIN WIN all round, no?
From a platform that works with both PHD and Mindshare, both agencies are favorites of mine due to their forward thinking approach to content and reluctance to go the way of Maxus, UMWW, etc in the single minded trading desk approach (a model strangling agencies in the US and uk). Congrats to PHD, you guys ran a solid pitch. Mindshare have had an amazing run for the last 4 years so it must be a sore loss.
I agree with comment number 1 – poor PHD more than anything. Yes you’ve won business, but at what cost? The whole Australian media industry knows Unilever is unbearable to work with. In saying that – such a fantastic varieties of brands and probably a global culture. Good luck to both agencies – both have interesting times ahead. Onwards and upwards to both!
Mindshare didn’t hold the account for very long……..
I thought Mindshare held this account in most Global markets – must be a blow.
Mind you, things change so quickly in the media space these days it’s hard to keep up.
OMD was a great band.