Endeavour Group appoints BMF as new creative agency working across Dan Murphy’s and BWS

One of Australia’s leading drinks and hospitality businesses Endeavour Group has today announced the appointment of BMF as its lead creative agency, working across its much loved portfolio of brands including Dan Murphy’s and BWS.

Following an extensive process, BMF has been chosen to lead Endeavour Marketing’s vision to deliver meaningful and connected customer experiences across the Group’s businesses.

The appointment sees Endeavour Group part ways with incumbent agencies M&C Saatchi (BWS) and Thinkerbell (Dan Murphy’s).

BMF was identified as the preferred agency for their strategic excellence, innovative approach to creative thinking, and their experience in retail and hospitality.

BMF will work in partnership with Endeavour Group to gain a deeper understanding of its customers’ social needs and behaviours across liquor retail and hospitality, bringing an overarching perspective to foster growth across Endeavour’s brands and create the right experiences to meet customer needs.

Endeavour Group’s chief marketing officer Jo Rose said the appointment of BMF was a significant milestone for Endeavour in unlocking more memorable customer experiences by recognising the Group’s collective strength is greater than the sum of its parts: “We made the decision to move to a single creative partner to help us lift the role and influence of creativity in our organisation.

“BMF is known for their ability to activate creative work in an increasingly digital and data-led environment, and this is something we are incredibly excited to see them enhance across our brands.

“Having one partner will help us be more purposeful in the way we grow our brands, by ensuring they are playing distinct but complementary roles in serving the full spectrum of our customer needs.

“In addition, this new model will allow us to maintain the strength of our brands in their own right, bolstered by their leading loyalty propositions, while providing clear and easy connections between them in addition to better propositions and shared experiences.

“We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to our incumbent agencies, M&C Saatchi and Thinkerbell. M&C Saatchi has been a key agency partner of BWS since 2016, and in that time has worked on several important brand platforms, including most recently the launch of Refreshingly BWS. Similarly, Thinkerbell has worked with Dan Murphy’s since 2019, completely repositioning the brand and culminating in the recent launch of the new Dan Murphy’s platform, Nobody Beats.

“Both agencies have made an enormous contribution to our business and laid the foundations for our future.”

Says Katie Dally, general manager of marketing – creative, Endeavour Group: “It was my pleasure to lead the EOI and RFP process, inviting Australia’s best agencies to participate as we bring a laser focus to our creative effectiveness as a Group.

“Having the right creative agency partner working across our portfolio of brands is key to our creative effectiveness journey. BMF demonstrated unwavering commitment to and care for everything that makes our brands great; flawless in their strategic precision and progressive in their creative thinking.

“They struck the perfect balance between art and science, pushing commercial creativity boundaries, making them the right partner for us to drive future growth.

“We are so looking forward to partnering with them as we continue to nurture and breathe new meaning into the much-loved Aussie brands we are fortunate enough to be the custodians of.”

Says Stephen McArdle, chief executive officer, BMF: “From our first meeting with the Endeavour team we were excited about their creative ambition, marketing smarts, positivity and general all-round loveliness.

“Those feelings have only compounded over the pitch process. A pitch process that clearly signalled they are a values-driven business. It was thorough, clear, fair and fun. We worked on real briefs with real investment in money, time and energy from the Endeavour team. It should be the pitch model for any client looking to start a relationship the way they want it to be long-term.

“The obvious bonus to all of this is brands that are part of Australia’s cultural landscape. Iconic and trusted. We hope to honour their heritage and, in partnership with our new clients, take them even further. We can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Endeavour Group comprises Australia’s largest retail drinks network and the largest portfolio of licensed hospitality venues, with more than 2,000 stores and venues in total, and a variety of digital platforms, which together, generate more than 250 million annual customer interactions.

BMF will take over the BWS creative account from today 1 July 2024, and Dan Murphy’s from October 2024.