Vodafone calls on New Commercial Arts as global creative partner

Vodafone has appointed New Commercial Arts as its new global strategic and creative agency, following a competitive pitch.

Incumbent Anomaly, which won the telecom brand’s creative account last August, declined to participate in the pitch.

Vodafone currently stands at the top of BrandZ UK brands ranking with a value of $23.1 billion (US$27.3 billion), and was named the eighth most-awarded advertiser for effectiveness in Warc’s Effective 100.

Conceived by Adam & Eve founders James Murphy and David Golding, New Commercial Arts launched in May this year with ambitions to “unite brand and customer creativity to make brands more desirable and easier to buy".

Immediately after launching, the agency won the creative account for Halifax, which parted ways with Adam & Eve/DDB after nine years.

New Commercial Arts also created a post-lockdown outdoor campaign for the World Out of Home Organization, which ran in 60 countries.

Last month, the agency hired John Blight, a planner at Adam & Eve/DDB, as senior strategist.

Vodafone also works with Ogilvy in the UK as part of WPP's bespoke operation Team Red. Ogilvy's most recent work for the Vodafone brand came last July with "Unlimit yourself" - the first campaign after the brand parted ways with former frontman Martin Freeman.

Earlier this year, the agency created an ad produced and shot under full lockdown conditions for Vodafone's youth-focused brand Voxi.

A spokeswoman for Ogilvy said: "WPP’s Team Red, of which Ogilvy is a key part, remains a lead partner in Vodafone’s UK’s communications team. 

"We have not been involved in the global Vodafone work, which is run as a separate relationship and workstream. However, we look forward to working with our local UK client on how best to integrate this thinking in service of further strengthening the brand in the UK."

This year Vodafone has also released campaigns created by Guardian Labs and We Are Social, with the brand’s in-house team creating an ad last month (16 September) highlighting the unifying role of the internet. 

Vodafone and New Commercial Arts declined to comment.