Westpac creative up for grabs

By By Wenlei Ma | 2 August 2012
 
Westpac 'KnowHow' campaign by Big Red.

Westpac has pitched its creative account with Ogilvy and DDB to fight for the lucrative business, while Ted Horton has been sidelined.

A Westpac spokesperson confirmed the pitch is underway and DDB and Ogilvy have been invited to participate. Ted Horton's Big Red will not be involved in the process. Acting general manager of strategic marketing Jim Tate is currently overseeing the review.

Many in the industry had speculated Ted Horton's grip on the Westpac account was all but gone with the exit of head marketer Damian Eales. Eales had hired Big Red in May last year following his previous relationship with Horton while Eales was at David Jones.

The recruitment of former ANZ marketer John Harries, who officially starts in October, looked to be a good sign for DDB, who had a relationship with Harries when the Omnicom agency held the ANZ business account.

Lavender works on Westpac's direct marketing and has been a partner with the banking brand for almost 15 years. Lavender will not be affected by the pitch process.

Ogilvy Group already works on Westpac Group's St George and Bank of Melbourne brands. Some in the industry thought Bank of Melbourne would be the first brand to be reviewed under the new marketing regime.

Westpac Group's Bank of SA is handled by Clemenger BBDO Adelaide. Westpac's media agency is MediaCom.

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