Endeavour Group has appointed BMF as its lead creative agency, working across its portfolio of brands including Dan Murphy’s and BWS.
It was announced the drinks and hospitality business was pitching the creative account for its key brands in May after a closed EOI process took place involving both current and potential agencies, in search of a single, leading creative agency.
The incumbent for BWS is M&C Saatchi, which held the account since its appointment in 2021, while Thinkerbell managed the Dan Murphy’s account.
Thinkerbell declined to participate in the pitch, releasing the following statement a few moths ago: “Thinkerbell has been privileged to work with one of Australia’s leading businesses. We’re proud to have witnessed and contributed to the Dan Murphy’s brand evolution, laying a strong foundation for a future of innovation. After careful consideration, we’ve decided not to participate in The Endeavour Creative Agency Review. We wish Dan Murphy’s and The Endeavour Group continued success in the future.”
BMF will take over the BWS creative account from 1 July 2024, and Dan Murphy’s from October 2024.
Endeavour Group CMO Jo Rose said the appointment of BMF was a significant milestone for Endeavour.
“We made the decision to move to a single creative partner to help us lift the role and influence of creativity in our organisation,” she said.
“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.”
Rose gave a “heartfelt thank you” to M&C 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, she continued, “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.”
“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,” added Endeavour Group’s GM marketing – creative, Katie Dally, who led the EOI and RFP process.
“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.”
Commenting on the win, BMF CEO Stephen McArdle said: “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.”
BMF is well-known for its role as creative agency of record for ALDI Australia. Recently, BMF worked with Ogilvy PR and Zenith Media to launch the supermarket chain‘s largest competition to date under its Good Different platform, ‘ALDIcore’.
In May, Thinkerbell launched its first work for Dan Murphy’s since December 2022, evolving its existing brand platform, Nobody Beats Dan Murphy’s. With BMF’s recent win, it remains to be seen if this will be Thinkerbell’s final work for the brand.
See also:
ALDI launches ‘ALDIcore’ campaign with Ogilvy PR, BMF, and Zenith
Thinkerbell revamps Dan Murphy’s brand platform with first work since 2022