Westpac puts $30m account up for grabs

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Westpac's Australasian advertising account - understood to be worth more than $30 million - is up for grabs.

The bank has invited New Zealand incumbent Saatchi & Saatchi and Australian incumbent Singleton Ogilvy & Mather, among other agencies, to pitch for the account.

If Saatchi & Saatchi won the account, it would be a huge boost after a troubled time last year.

If it were to lose its current slice of the account - believed to be worth between $8 million and $10 million - jobs would be at risk.

Westpac media relations manager Paul Gregory said other agencies had been invited to pitch.

He would not name them, as it was not yet certain whether they would take part due to conflicts with existing financial clients.

Gregory said merging the Australasian account would save money and create a more consistent brand message.

One creative team would be appointed for the entire business.

The pitch was called because the total account represented "significantly more responsibility than currently held by any of them in existing arrangements ... It is not a performance issue."

Last October, Westpac dropped the word Trust from the WestpacTrust name and moved its head office to Auckland.

But Gregory denied that the name change - which means the bank has the same branding on both sides of the Tasman - had anything to do with the account being up for grabs.

As part of the competitive push, Westpac said it would put $100 million into rebranding, more salespeople, more jobs in Auckland and technology.

Saatchi & Saatchi chief executive Ian Christie, in Sydney yesterday to meet the client, did not want to comment on the repitch.

He said he would not speculate on what it would mean for the agency if it were lost or total transtasman work gained.

Last year, Saatchi & Saatchi lost the direct marketing part of the Westpac account to Lavender, an Australian-based agency that opened an office in Wellington after the win.

After the loss, believed to make up around a third of the total business, Saatchi closed its direct marketing section and made six staff redundant.