Saatchi & Saatchi faces battle to keep TVNZ account

Ten fingers, ten toes and a small blond boy proclaiming his uniqueness may have been an award-winning campaign - but its creators still have to repitch for TVNZ's business.

The high-profile account is set to go to a single agency after TVNZ announced it would consolidate the business it shares between Saatchi & Saatchi, Assignment and Ink Project.

The move comes days after Saatchi & Saatchi's "ONE of me" campaign was given the People's Choice award at the CAANZ AXIS awards.

TVNZ's general manager of marketing, Sue Brewster, said the broadcaster was not unhappy with any of its present agencies, but wanted to reflect changes that had been made internally to ensure its TV One and TV2 brands complemented each other, rather than competing.

"What is missing from the brand interaction at the moment is TVNZ. There needs to be an umbrella strategy: in the weighting of the brands, how does TVNZ fit in there as a strategic entity. At the moment that holistic thinking isn't there from an agency perspective," Brewster said.

Saatchi & Saatchi handles the TV2 Brand and all TVNZ's off-air programme promotion, Assignment - whose founders worked on the "ONE of me" campaign for Saatchi & Saatchi before they left to start their own agency - has the TV One on-air work and was behind the recent AUT student-designed ads for the channel. Ink Project helped relaunch the TVNZ brand at the start of 2004.

Brewster said the decision to move to a sole agency had been evolving, but it had become clear over the past month that it was the right step.

Up to seven agencies will be invited to present their credentials by late June, with a decision expected by the end of August.

Brewster predicted a high level of interest. "Both brands are blue chip brands, and TVNZ always has its share of the limelight."

Saatchi and Saatchi chief executive Andrew Stone said TVNZ's move made "absolute sense".

"The review will also end the speculation that has unfairly surrounded the account for over a year," he said.

Media buyer Starcom will retain its TVNZ account.