Unity the word at Saatchi & Saatchi

By DITA DE BONI

The rivalry between Auckland and Wellington Saatchi & Saatchi teams looks set to end, with the "unification" of the two offices confirmed yesterday.

James Hall, former Saatchi Wellington head, will become chief executive of the new entity, known as Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, and will lead a national management team comprising staff from both offices.

Saatchi Auckland managing director Geoff Vuleta has been appointed head of the Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Ideas Taskforce and will work on projects for international clients.

Industry commentators said Saatchi Auckland's portfolio had long been under the shadow of Saatchi Wellington's popular body of work, including this year's top Axis award winner, "Bugger!" for Toyota, as well as Advertisement of the Decade for Lotto's "Bungy" ad.

The Auckland agency also lost the multimillion-dollar Tourism Board account to Saatchi Wellington early last year after suffering the fallout from a political scandal involving then-Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and worldwide Saatchi chief executive Kevin Roberts.