Aussie Home Loans is pitching its creative as the company prepares to demerge from CommBank and undergoes a wider shakeup of its marketing team, AdNews can reveal.
The agency shake-up comes as current marketing lead Richard Burns departs for a role at CommBank's online broker, CommSec.
Burns joined the company from CommSec in 2015 as customer experience and technology to lead the marketing function.
Aussie Home Loans appointed Special Group in 2016 following a competitive pitch. At this stage, Special Group is not defending the account.
Aussie CEO James Symond said: “We thank The Special Group for its work over the last few years and wish the team all the best in the future."
The customer experience team now reports into Aussie's former GM strategy and product, David Smith, who becomes chief customer officer, also leading its marketing department.
As a result of Burns departure, Aussie Home Loans said it has reviewed its executive team restructure and is now recruiting a chief digital officer who will lead the technology operations and digital transformation teams.
It was revealed in July that CommBank was mulling the separation of Aussie Home Loans and Mortgage Choice as part of an $8 billion demerger.
According to sources, the split is going ahead despite Aussie Home Loans protesting against being part of the portfolio of assets that CommBank is spinning off.
The separation could also impact Aussie Home Loans long-standing relationship with media agency Ikon, however AdNews understands the review does not include media at this stage.
Ikon currently works with both CommBank and Aussie Home Loans, winning the account in 2009.
Special Group, which declined to comment, revived Aussie's iconic 'We'll Save You' tagline in 2016 as part of a $25 million campaign. Aussie is known for its iconic ads in the 90s which were fronted by its founder John Symond, who is the uncle of current CEO James Symond.
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