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DDB and Westpac up a tree…?

It’s been a fairly exciting ride on the banking merry-go-round in recent times. ASB is now with Saatchi & Saatchi, BNZ is now with Colenso BBDO and we have it on good authority that DDB has won the Westpac account. 

DDB’s managing director Justin Mowday was a firm “no comment”, and we’re waiting for Westpac’s media relations man Chris Mirams to get back to us to confirm. But if it is true it’s not entirely surprising, as all the pundits had DDB at fairly low odds, especially because many of the options (and particularly Saatchi & Saatchi, which had plenty of IP to call on from its previous dalliance with Westpac) were fairly limited given all the recent switching.

When Colenso BBDO signed up with BNZ, Clemenger Group chief executive Jim Moser told us he was hopeful the work .99 had done for Westpac in the past—and the strong relationship the pair had—would work in its favour and Clems could have the best of both worlds. We’ve heard from some that Westpac demanded exclusivity with its new agency partner. But we’re led to believe that’s not the case.

While DDB will be pleased to fill the hole in the roster that was left when ANZ went to TBWA, it will still be interesting to see whether the decision will affect Rapp/Tribal’s relationship with ANZ.

“ANZ is a very important client,” Mowday says. “And Rapp/Tribal will continue to work with them.”

While we’re on the topic of Westpac, it’s been pretty busy on the charity front of late. On Friday, while most of adland was out boozing after the AXIS awards, 11 Westpac staff started planting 12,500 poppies on the grass at Britomart outside HQ at 4am. And on Sunday it put on Chopper Carnivals around the country to raise money for the rescue helicopter.

Photo via @Serahuws twitter.com/serahuws


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