ANZ has dropped M&C Saatchi Melbourne from its $55 million advertising account as part of sweeping changes to the bank’s agenda aimed at consolidating marketing and operational activities across Asia-Pacific.
ANZ confirmed M&C Saatchi’s contract would not be renewed at the end of this month, but would not comment on whether Whybin TBWA or DDB had picked up the bank’s new regional brief.
Industry conjecture is pointing to Whybin TBWA’s Melbourne office as the winner although it is understood to have some potential conflict issues; TBWA handles Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and Hong Kong and Whybin’s Sydney office has Rabo Direct.
The surprise decision come as part of the broader expansion plans of ANZ chief executive Mike Smith, who wants the bank to ramp-up its presence across Asia. He brought in Joyce Phillips as group managing director strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and marketing innovation to lead the regional expansion plans.
Phillips is said to be behind the agency change, part of which included a brief to develop a single brand positioning and communications plan for ANZ’s Australian operation and the wildly diverse markets of Asia.
ANZ’s group marketing manager Mark Lollback also left suddenly in February. There have been reports for several months of diverging views within the bank on how best to run the newly “centralised” operation across Asia-Pacific, out of Melbourne. The bank is moving from essentially country-based units – Australia, New Zealand and Asia – to a single entity.
Last month, ANZ put its two creative agencies, M&C Saatchi Melbourne and DDB Melbourne, on alert as it reviewed its advertising account. M&C handled the bank's retail business while DDB handled the credit card side of the account.
The fate of DDB Melbourne is still unclear although M&C’s digital operation, Mark, is understood have retained its remit as a “second tier” service provider for ANZ.
M&C’s worldwide chairman Tom Dery confirmed the bank had given his company notice. “Yes, I can confirm we won’t be reappointed at the end of the month,” he told AdNews.
“It’s hard to pick one reason why it’s happened. We understand organisations change in style and structure and it may well reflect what’s happening within the ANZ.”
Dery said the company was attempting to relocate at least half of the 20-plus staff on the ANZ account to its Sydney office or other roles in the Melbourne agency.
“We should be able to retain 8-10 people,” he said.
The review also comes as ANZ places an increased focus on it digital strategy with a proposed $100 million revamp of its online offering underway. Media buying, which is handled by Mitchell & Partners, is unaffected by the review.
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