ANZ Awards Creative Account to Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett has won the coveted creative account for ANZ, following a competitive pitch process.
The Big Four bank's account, which was previously held by Special Group, was sought after by some of the industry’s top agencies, including BMF, dentsu, and The Monkeys.
The account went up to pitch earlier this year, and Special did not defend the account. ANZ’s decision to take the account to pitch came as part of a strategic shift to address the “complex needs” of the bank through a refreshed agency ecosystem.
“We’re constantly reviewing the ways in which we work with our Australian agency partners,” Sian Chadwick, ANZ’s general manager of marketing, said in May.
“As part of this, we are building an alliance of trusted agency partners, which will allow us to achieve the best creative outcome for each campaign."
Special secured the account in 2021 after a competitive four-way pitch against CHEP, Hero, and the incumbent TBWA\Melbourne. TBWA had managed the ANZ account for a decade, producing campaigns like the Cannes-winning GAYTMs. When ANZ went to Special, TBWA filled the category gap with NAB.
Fellow Big Four bank Westpac is also up for pitch, currently held by DDB. Commonwealth Bank, meanwhile, works with M&C Saatchi but recently engaged indie shop Supermassive to create the Truyu brand and launch the digital protection tool.
ANZ appointed a new chief marketing officer, Astrud Burgess, last July. The news of Leos' win comes the same day as McDonald's confirmed Publicis stablemate Digitas had retained its CRM business.
