Westpac dumps The Campaign Palace

By David Blight | 13 September 2010
 

Westpac has dropped creative agency The Campaign Palace from its $32 million advertising account.

The bank ended its relationship with the agency last week, but has not yet put the account out for review. Westpac's direct marketing agency Lavender will handle all creative services until a new agency is appointed.

A Westpac spokeswomen told AdNews: "With the appointment of Rob Coombe as group executive a few months ago, there was an examination of existing relationships. Rob looked at existing partnerships and had to ask whether they were aligned with Westpac's future direction."

Coombe was appointed to the role of group executive of Westpac retail and business banking in February. It is understood Westpac will make a decision about the future of the account, once it has appointed a new head of marketing.
 
Media buying, which is handled by OMD, is unaffected by this decision to end The Campaign Palace's contract.

The move follows a tumultuous few months for The Campaign Palace since the arrival of former national chief executive Mark Mackay who returned in June after a two-year absence to take up the post of executive chairman.

In early July, Sydney managing director Jacques Burger announced his intention to return to South Africa to join M&C Saatchi. The following week, Tom Cooper parted ways with the Melbourne office following the loss of the $6 million Origin Energy account.

Westpac hired The Campaign Palace/Red Cell, Sydney, to work on its ad account in 2006, restarting a relationship that ended in 2002.

The Campaign Palace was Westpac's agency of four years until 2002, creating TV ads for the Sydney Olympics showing the parents of Olympians attempting the sports that had helped make their children famous.

Despite the campaign winning acclaim the Palace was dropped and the account moved to Singleton Ogilvy & Mather (SO&M). But, after just 13 months, SO&M parted company with the bank and the account was put up for review, with Saatchi & Saatchi appointed in May 2003.

Westpac is estimated to have spent $32.3 million on main media in the twelve months to May 2010, according to Nielsen.

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