MediaCom retains FirstRand account

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.