HBF leaves WA and goes to Cummins&Partners Sydney following an extensive pitch process

Cummins&Partners, Sydney has won the Western Australian-based HBF account, after a competitive pitch that didn’t include incumbent Marketforce Perth or any other Western Australian-based agencies.

HBF’s decision to prefer an eastern states based agency for its impending launch on the east coast has been the subject of much discussion – and disappointment – in the industry in Western Australia. It is another body-blow for the WA locals, with HBF being one of a few big WA-based brands left in the market.

The state’s biggest health insurer was catapulted into prominence as a brand thirty years ago by Baynham’s “Are you with HBF?” campaign – a theme it returned to recently. It also enjoyed enormous success over a decade with 303’s “Ted” campaign. In 2009 Meerkats created the award-winning but controversial “Your health is all that matters” campaign, before the account moved to Marketforce in 2011.

It’s the second WA-based account for Cummins&Partners, which also handles the State Government’s Tourism WA account from its Melbourne office.