Publicity battle: Saatchi claims coveted bank account from DDB-owned Track

Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi claimed a valuable share of Westpac bank’s advertising services.

The bank has confirmed that after a competitive pitch process, it has appointed the agency to handle its business creation
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In addition to this, Westpac has also appointed Digitas to its direct marketing account. Saatchi & Saatchi and Digitas belong to the holding company Publicis Groupe.

Suraiya Phillimore-Smith, marketing director for Westpac NZ, confirmed to the Herald that this account transfer means the bank’s relationship with DDB Group-owned Track ended after their contract expired.

Phillimore-Smith stressed, however, that the branding and part of the creative account remains with DDB.

To put this into context, ad accounts are typically organized into three parts: the media account, which focuses on ad placement; the creative account above the line, which involves the creation of the main advertising concepts that we see on television; and below the line, which often involves direct marketing and retail work.

The latest move means two main parts of the account are now owned by Publicis Groupe, with the organization also winning the media account in a major pitch last year. To handle the big deal, Publicis launched a new agency Spark Foundry and named respected operator Nicky Greville as chief executive.

Phillimore-Smith made no secret of what attracted Publicis, describing the agency’s connected ecosystem as a “tempting proposition.”

Since his promotion to chief marketing officer of the bank in December 2020, Phillimore-Smith hasn’t been shy about making big calls. Along with those two pitches, she also greenlighted arguably the most controversial bank ad seen in years – an elaborate DDB story featuring a friendly monster helping a girl build a treehouse.

Whether you hate him or love him, one thing is certain, he is incredibly hard to ignore.

Standing out in the competitive banking industry is very expensive, as evidenced by Nielsen data showing that Westpac spent $22 million placing advertising across various channels in 2020. This figure was higher than the $20.68 million spent in 2019.

Given the concentration of Westpac’s work within Publicis Groupe, the pressure will now be on DDB to keep the last piece of the puzzle.

A source speaking to the Herald on condition of anonymity suggested that the direct and retail work that left the DDB Group reportedly brought in around $2 million in revenue and required around 12 employees to manage.

Asked how many employees will leave Track as a result of this account transfer, agency chief executive Rob Limb said they hoped to keep disruption to a minimum.

“While there is no doubt that Westpac was an important customer, we are delighted to have minimized any impact on our staff,” he said.

“The majority of people working on Westpac are now in other roles within DDB or within Track on other businesses. The Track team has doubled in size since 2019 and there are still roles for people great within our client portfolio.”

The win continues a rich run of form for Saatchi & Saatchi, which named Mark Cochrane as Managing Director in 2021 and Steve Cochran as Chief Creative Officer shortly before.

“Steve and I have been thrilled with the progress we’ve made over the past 12 months,” Cochran told the Herald.

In addition to Westpac’s work, the agency has picked up a number of decent deals, including ANZ’s FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign, Tiger beer, Z Energy and a number of projects from Tourism NZ.

“It’s a testament to the people at Saatchi, our workplace transformation plan, and our focus on culture-driven creativity and ideas,” Cochran said.

The agency has also seen its work acclaimed on the awards circuit, landing the coveted Grand Axis for a campaign for Global Women and the Grand Effie for its recent work with Toyota.

Advertising has long been a cyclical industry, where success often comes as fast as it goes. The question now is how long Saatchi can maintain this form.