Spark taps Colenso for creative account
Spark spent $65 million on advertising last year.
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Hawke’s Bay
After months of industry speculation Spark [NZX: SPK] has chosen Colenso BBDO as its new above-the-line creative advertising agency.
According to Nielsen ratecards, Spark spent $65 million on advertising last year, prompting many agencies to pitch for the business. The high budget also compelled longtime agency Saatchi & Saatchi to work tirelessly to keep its partnership.
"Over the past year or so we’ve been working on project by project basis with Saatchi & Saatchi, and we’ve now mutually agreed that we’ll no longer work together after the end of this year. We have had a long and a great partnership, making some iconic New Zealand advertising campaigns and we wish the team at Saatchi & Saatchi all the best," says PR manager Lucy Fullarton.
Public relations and media accounts will stay with incumbents Sherson Willis and Dynamo, playing a "critical role" for Spark, she says.
The telco appointed Colenso’s sister agency Proximity to its direct marketing account in May, ending an eight-year partnership with Rapp. The appointment sparked rumours in ad-land about the creative agency moving to Colenso, which was named most effective agency at this year's Effie Awards.
Ms Fullarton says while bringing the accounts together under the Clemenger Group provides the opportunity to build a total agency model, “this is a bonus rather than the objective.”
“Our focus is on finding the best creative agency for our brand. We’ve selected Colenso because of its leadership and expertise in storytelling, which is crucial to where the Spark brand is going,” she says.
“We believe this team of agencies will allow us to keep developing a flexible, authentic and responsive approach to how we communicate with our customers."
Colenso BBDO, Proximity and Dynamo are owned by Omnicom.
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Chelsea Armitage
Fri, 23 Oct 2015
Fri, 23 Oct 2015
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Spark taps Colenso for creative account
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