
Although rumours favouring Mediacom had been in the air since last month, Mediacom Australasia CEO Toby Jenner confirmed that the agency was notified only on Friday (7 October). The account is worth US$69 million, he told Campaign.
Jenner added that the agency was delighted to have Westpac back as a client since Mediacom lost the account to OMD during a consolidation exercise by Westpac in 2009. "We held Westpac and OMD held St George Bank then. OMD has done a great job with the account since but we've come a long way and we are better positioned to manage the account now," said Jenner.
Under the three-year agreement. Mediacom will be handling various brands within the Westpac Group including planning, trading services and media strategy. It is understood the new agreement does not extend to online search which is handled by each brand in the Westpac Group inidvidually.
"We'll be handling the transition starting today and the campaign will go live on December 1," said Jenner, and added that the agency would be looking to hire on the back of the new account. "We have most of our senior people in place, but will be looking to hire one or two more," he said.