BMF and Mojo the big winners as Lion Nathan drops Saatchi & Saatchi and Host from the roster
CB Exclusive – CB can reveal that Lion Nathan has dropped Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney and Host Sydney from the roster and has moved all its beer brands into its two other roster agencies, BMF and Mojo. CB understands BMF gains the Tooheys New brand from Saatchi’s while Hahn, also with Saatchi’s, goes to Mojo. It is believed that Host lost its minor share of the Lion Nathan business, including James Squire, to Mojo.
Saatchi’s won Tooheys New in 2003 soon after ex Lion Nathan’s Jim O’Mahony was appointed CEO of the agency and David ‘Nobby’ Nobay came on board as ECD. The agency won Hahn in August last year from BMF.
The loss to Saatchi’s is massive, and comes only a few months after the loss of the David Jones business to M&C Saatchi and less than a week after losing Toyota’s Yaris brand to Droga5.
Saatchi’s last campaign for Tooheys New, titled ‘The Beer Economy’, was launched in February.
UPDATE…. Lion Nathan marketing director Matt Tapper said: “It has been a very tough decision to make. We value very strategic and integrated relationships with our agencies and having reviewed our roster we feel we can achieve more effective and sustainable partnerships with two lead creative agencies rather than four.
“Making these changes at any time is difficult, but we have taken the opportunity to do this now at the commencement of our new financial year to deliver a more consistent scope of work for our lead agencies,” continued Tapper. “We have great respect for the time we have shared with Saatchi & Saatchi and Host and the contribution they have made in building our brands. We thank them and wish them every success in the future.”
36 Comments
Jesus.
How the mighty fall eh?
They’ve been off the radar until fairly recently with their latest ‘print campaign’ for Toyota.
They lost David Jones.
Toyota, as we all know, will soon be winging its way to its rightful owner, Nobby, within the next few months.
What’s left?
Like the work coming out of saatchi’s. I’m sure they’ll get more business
What’s left indeed?
Some chocolate and dodgy mexican food.
A sad day in the Rocks.
Shut your necks!
Swings and round-abouts, people. Whilst S&S may be on the decline, fortunes can change pretty quickly. There is still too much talent in the place to lay down and take the kicking that they have. Perhaps a change of senior management would help, or at the very least, Publicis loosening its purse-strings to allow some good hires.
poor jamberoo
That’s shit news. I hope for the everyone’s sake that S&S’ fortune changes.
A sad day for some good people.
Saatchi’s have been respsonsible for some great work over the years. The remaining people have to fight their way out of this – I hope their treated with respect.
It’s been coming for some time, it’s a tough business these days and it’s about to get alot tougher for those working at Saatchis.
I know it sounds wanky, but thanks to those who’ve left supportive comments.
It’s a shit feeling. And I wouldn’t wish it on any agency.
So cheers for not putting the boot in.
Commiserations Saatchi’s. Lets hope for the good of the industry you bounce back. Saatchi’s has been a big story in the Australian advertising scene for some time and has produced some of the best people in the Australian advertising industry.
This is just a sign that S&S should hire me…
I loved the beer economy ads. The punters might not have, explaining the shift, but I thought they were fresh and funny.
What a shame, a once great institution most creatives would give their left arm to work for is seeing a mass exodus of talent and clients, which will only lead to the inevitable downsize, incurring more loss along the way.
For the creatives thinking of leaving, stick in there. Droga got his first gig as CD because everyone else had left the building.
Commiserations boys, you’re a good bunch. Heads down, bums up.
Perhaps “Rowdy” could … ?
All this after Tooheys New beat VB for the 1st time in 60 years thanks to the Beer Economy campaign. Matt Tapper came in after that and is looking after his mates at Mojo and BMF.
Beer economy was a great thought.
Let down a bit by some of the TVC’s being a little heavy on the cliches, but still very nice.
Can’t do much when a new marketing manager moves the business to his preferred agency. Tough times at the rocks though.
Can anyone remember anything Host did for James Squire?
Yeah, if it was one or the other of those two agencies, you might blame the work, but both? Reeks of agenda.
I’m pretty sure Mojo and BMF have had their fair share of snubs in the past so easy on the bitterness people. It’s not just Lion Nathan that are walking. DJ’s and Toyota too? I reckon it’s more than just a case of ‘looking after mates’.
if the work was brilliant, they wouldn’t be leaving
8:09 You know nothing about politics. Bless.
Politics or not 9.48, The beer economy ad was the only good campaign Saatchis did on Lion. Everything else was rubbish. They’ve had soooooo many opportunities to do great work but stuffed it. It always missed the mark with the punters and struggled at the hands of Carlton draught and VB. Now I’m sorry but they should have lost it many years ago. BMF and Mojo have won the accounts because they have exceptional relationships with those clients. It’s a relationship business people. If you don’t have the relationship you don’t get to do the great work.
1:45am,
You said ‘ If you don’t have the relationship you don’t get to do the great work’.
Can you please explain the latest TED ad then? And the last weird Boags ad? Strong relationship their eh?
The only good ad BMF did for TED was voted Australia’s most hated ad – Tongue, and that was years ago. How many chances do they need.
A freelance team did the beer economy stuff – surely that’s a damning indictment on the creative output?
9:07am
I assume you’ve forgotten that their TED 696 campaign won massively in all major local and international award shows and that wasn’t so long ago. Sure, they do some weird shit but it’s reaching the target market so enough said.
BMF & Mojo must take their client’s to a better class of restaurant then Host & Saatchis. After all, watching your average commercial break proves a lot of Marketing Directors are more interested in food & fine wine than they are about creating amazing ads that sell brands & product. Oh, and “can we make the logo bigger and have more time on the packshot” doesn’t justify a Marketing Director’s salary either.
9.58, Said freelance team have been there for over a year and choose to remain freelance within Saatchi’s for whatever reason. There are other top-notch teams there that may or may not have been given a look at the brief. Hardly an indictment on anything.
Wow.
David Jones.
Toyota.
Now Lion Nathan.
What’s happening over there?
At least M&C were kind enough to offer the previous lot new jobs, but I doubt the other agencies will be so kind.
There’s no question that Saatchis is full of wankers. But there are also some really nice people in there that will suffer from this. It’s a shame.
4.22, I take it you’ve worked there and experienced these wankers first hand, have you? I have and I actually found the entire bunch to be the about the most decent bunch of people I’ve ever worked with. Hardly an ego in the place.
4:22 – ‘without question’ hey? Dick. That’s the most bullshit generalisation i’ve seen on this blog in some time, and I think it’s ‘without question’ that most people in the industry would call that insulting to a bunch of decent hardworking people, and having worked there you couldn’t be more wrong. People aren’t wankers simply because they have better Xmas parties than you, or have an award-winning culture. Of course, you could prove me wrong by listing said ‘wankers’, be our guest.
Let me guess 4:22, your agency is full of dead-set legends, just like yourself?
That’s insulting, and way off the mark.
SHUT YOUR NECKS!!
4:22…am. Up late after wetting the bed again?
10.15 AM
SHUT YOUR ASS!!
Saatchi did not lose Toyota. They do the bulk of the work on Toyota. A Yaris project that’s months old is merely being tactically promoted now from Droga. You’ll notice the commercial wasn’t featured in their press release because it is nothing special. With an awesome legacy, Saatchi’s is always going to have ups and downs. Loads of great, hard working and talented people still work there. Carry on with your own careers people. Everyone has their highs and lows. Putting the boot in to others in your industry just shows shortsightedness and a lack of character.