J. Walter Thompson, Sydney Wins Vodafone

Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has today announced the appointment of J. Walter Thompson, Sydney, as its new creative partner.

The selection follows a creative review which began last December, following Vodafone's split with Cummins&Partners after only two years. And two years seems to be the norm for Vodafone in recent times: Cummins won the business in November 2014. Prior to Cummins, the account was with WPP's Ogilvy, which won the business from Host, Sydney in February, 2012. Host won the business in February 2010.

Says Ben McIntosh, consumer business director, VHA: "We have selected JWT via our long-term relationship with WPP as Vodafone's full service marketing communications agency.

"We believe JWT has brought together a formidable team that will help position Vodafone as a real alternative in the telecommunications market."
 
According to McIntosh, bringing the key marketing disciplines closer together under the WPP AUNZ umbrella is an opportunity for the company to streamline and simplify its local marketing operations.
 
Says McIntosh: "Having everything housed under WPP provides the added benefit of enabling us to coordinate our efforts to be more agile, responsive and smart in our approach to reaching customers, consumers and businesses."
 
WPP AUNZ CEO Mike Connaghan said that the shift to a tighter, more integrated agency model is about enabling Vodafone to work seamlessly with best in breed experts from across the WPP AUNZ group. 

Says Connaghan: "This is a great example of our strategy in action.  It's about bringing together the best people and thinking from across our group to create better, smarter ideas to grow their business."
 
J. Walter Thompson, including the CX expertise from digital agency Webling, will work across the entire communications spectrum including brand and retail comms, CVM, social and CX/UX.
 
J. Walter Thompson, Sydney MD Jenny Willits, said the agency was thrilled to add Vodafone to its client roster and become the latest market to be part of WPP and Vodafone's global relationship.
 
Says Willits: "It's an exciting time to be leading the creative focus for Vodafone. With new teams on both the client and agency side, plus the opportunity to extend our working relationship with our sister agency MEC, we believe our collective teams are truly set up for success and will drive growth for the Vodafone brand.
 
"This latest win caps off a fantastic growth period for the agency and we are looking forward to bringing our ideas to market and being a major part of Vodafone's success going forward."