Johannesburg - FirstRand has reappointed MediaCom as the
media strategy and buying agency for its R200m advertising account, which has
been with the agency for seven years. But it was no mere formality: MediaCom
(formerly known as MediaCompete) had to pitch
for the business against a shortlist that included Mindshare and Universal
McCann.
Advertising expenditure figures provided by The Nielsen
Company place First National Bank (the biggest brand in the FirstRand stable) twenty-first on the list of leading advertisers in the
country. Sister brands are Rand Merchant Bank, Wesbank, OUTsurance and
Momentum.
“MediaCom will continue to partner with businesses across
our brands, following a strict tender process governed by the FirstRand
Procurement Committee, to align the broader media-buying strategy for the
group,” says FirstRand brand director Derek Carstens. “We look forward to a
fresh and innovative approach.”
MediaCom is a global media-only agency network that had to
operate in South Africa
for some years as MediaCompete. This was because the name MediaCom was registered
to another company that refused to surrender the name, although it operated in
a different field of activity. That issue has apparently been resolved.
The agency is part of Group M, a loose affiliation of media
agencies operating under the umbrella of the London- and New York-listed
holding company, WPP. It was originally an offshoot of Grey advertising, which
was acquired a few years ago by WPP. MediaCom South Africa recently
relocated its offices from the Grey Group in Johannesburg’s Sunninghill to the Group M
office park.
Group M acts to leverage the skills of the agencies by
sharing certain facilities (such as IT) and fostering best practice, but it
doesn’t coordinate their activities and they compete fiercely with each other
for business.
- Fin24.com