The revelation that Qantas will split into international and domestic businesses will impact the company's current media and creative reviews, the airline has confirmed.
Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce revealed today that Qantas Airlines will be managed as two distinct businesses moving forward, Qantas Domestic and Qantas International, each with their own chief executive and commercial functions. Financial results will also be reported separately.
Qantas said in a statement: “The management of Qantas' brand and advertising activity will be considered as we work through the details of the restructure over the coming weeks.”
A spokesperson went on to say this will include reviewing the status of the current pitch process.
While the exact impact of the restructure on the creative and media reviews is unknown, this most likely points to a delay in the decision. Industry pundits have speculated a decision would be revealed this month, but with the restructure, a time frame is now unclear.
Qantas Airlines has been involved in a long-standing review process, which kicked off last year. The creative incumbent was M&C Saatchi, which was taken off the account in an earlier stage of the pitch process, while the media incumbent is ZenithOptimedia.
The creative and digital streams of the review are currently being contested between Droga5 and Publicis, while the media review is a two-way shootout between OMD and ZenithOptimedia.
As part of the restructure, former group executive of customer and marketing Lesley Grant has been appointed as chief executive of Qantas Frequent Flyer.
Frequent Flyer chief executive Simon Hickey has been named CEO of Qantas International, while group executive of Qantas Airlines Operations Lyell Strambi has been named chief of Qantas Domestic.
Group executive of strategy and technology Jayne Hrdlicka has been moved to the role of chief executive of Jetstar Group. Jetstars current chief, Bruce Buchanan, is leaving the company.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “Formally separating the management of Qantas International and Qantas Domestic will ensure that we can independently run each business according to its specific priorities and market conditions.These measures give us the right structure to address the challenges and opportunities we face – and the right people.”
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