ZenithOptimedia has had a fairly difficult few months since the controversial closure of its sister agency Publicis Mojo just before Christmas. But, in what general manager Sophia Quilian sees as "the start of a rejuvenated [agency]", it's been appointed to the Palmers Gardenworld business without a pitch. The incumbent was Total Media.
The team will be headed by business director Alex Lawson and it will officially take responsibility for the account from 1 July.
Palmers operates 16 Gardenworld stores throughout the North Island and the new format Palmers Planet store that opened in Albany in 2012. According to Nielsen's ratecard AIS figures, Palmers spent a total of $1.3 million on media in 2012.
Media Type | Grand Total | Palmers Gardenworld |
TV | 959,564 | 959,564 |
Radio | 2,738 | 2,738 |
Newspaper | 222,435 | 222,435 |
Magazine | 49,735 | 49,735 |
Unaddressed Direct Mail | 128,469 | 128,469 |
On Line | 54 | 54 |
Grand Total | 1,362,995 | 1,362,995 |
“We’re excited to work with both Palmers and Calibre on these brands refining their in-market presence," says Quilian. "… We look forward to a fruitful harvest with Palmers."
Speaking of rejuvenation, ZenithOptimedia is set to shift offices in July and is moving into the Saatchi & Saatchi building.
Quilian is currently on leave, but Starcom chief executive Alistair Jamison says it's part of a global directive to co-locate the various Publicis Groupe-owned agencies in an effort to reduce costs.
"It just makes logical sense," he says.
The move doesn't mean the two media agencies will be merging, he says. In Sydney, for example, Publicis Mojo, ZO and Starcom are in the same building and Saatchi & Saatchi is just down the road. It does, however, share what they call the resources department, which is basically the non-client facing back-end functions like IT.
Jamison says it would be a tragedy to see the Textile centre building empty, but he says the landlords have been great and they have managed to find another tenant.
In other ZO news, it recently released its global ad spend forecasts, with an estimated 2.8 percent growth for New Zealand between 2012 to 2013. In 'Advanced Asia', the category where New Zealand sits, it is predicting 4.5 percent growth.
Executive summary: ZenithOptimedia's Global Advertising Expenditure Forecasts April 2013
- Global ad expenditure growth to strengthen over the next three years, rising from 3.5 percent in 2012 to 3.9 percent in 2013 and 5.6 percent in 2015
- Rising Markets to contribute 63 percent of adspend growth between 2012 and 2015, and increase their share of global adspend from 34 percent to 38 percent.
- Continued strong growth expected from Eastern Europe & Central Asia, ‘Fast-track Asia’, and Latin America, growing at 10 percent + a year
- North America and ‘Advanced Asia’ to deliver solid 4-5 percent annual growth
- First signs of confident resurgence in the Middle East & North Africa since the Arab Spring; average 7 percent growth forecast to 2015
- Peripheral Eurozone to shrink 7 percent in 2013, stabilise in 2014 and grow 3 percent in 2015
- Northern & Central Europe static in 2013, then to grow 2 percent a year in 2014 and 2015
- Online video and social media to help drive 20 percent annual growth in internet display over the next three years
- Internet advertising to exceed combined newspaper and magazine total in 2015
- This article originally and incorrectly stated the agencies were owned by WPP.
