After 74 years with J Walter Thompson Vegemite makes switch to Melbourne start-up Thinkerbell

Today, Vegemite has announced a new partnership with creative agency, Thinkerbell – marking the end of one the longest standing agency partnerships within the FMCG world.

Headquartered in Melbourne, Thinkerbell, who will take over from the incumbent J. Walter Thompson, is set to challenge the creative minds behind the Vegemite and Bega brands and help move them forward with a strong and insightful new strategy, that seeks to bring science and creativity together.

The decision to change agencies comes off the back of the Bega Cheese acquiring the Mondelez Foods business in 2017 and bringing Vegemite into Australian ownership for the first time in over 90 years.

This milestone triggered a desire within the marketing team to re-invigorate the business’ agency roster with a bold and ambitious approach to the brand’s management.

Ben Hill, marketing director Bega Foods, said the recent strength and positive-growth on Vegemite could be attributed largely to the increased exposure the brand has been generating. One driver of this has been the return of the iconic brand to Australian ownership under Bega and the positivity surrounding the return of Vegemite to home soil.

Says Hill: “Through recognising the strength in our Australian heritage and our need to focus on the future to continue positive momentum, we felt the time was right to refresh our creative agency. Thinkerbell – a new cutting-edge Australian agency – represent everything that we want our brands to deliver.

“With a new team and new outlook, we are thrilled to be working closely with Thinkerbell to instil the Vegemite and Bega brands further into the Australian psyche. We anticipate a bright future with Thinkerbell and can’t wait to inspire more Australians than ever before.”

Thinkerbell was founded in July 2017 and is led by Adam Ferrier, Ben Couzens, Margie Reid and Jim Ingram as partners. The creative agency represents a great balance between strategy and creative, and they will now manage the creative execution on the Bega Foods suite of brands including Vegemite and Bega Peanut Butter.

Says Ferrier: “We feel a great responsibility and are thrilled to be at the helm of the creative execution to drive the future success of brands such as Bega and Vegemite, two of Australia’s most loved and iconic brands.”

Says Margie Reid, managing partner, Thinkerbell: “Our approach and differentiation is that we focus on bringing science and creativity together. We will use this combination to spearhead the development of a new creative platform that will help both Vegemite and Bega Peanut Butter continue to grow into new markets locally and abroad.”

While the new partnership is set to propel Vegemite into the future, the team at Vegemite acknowledge with great pride, the extensive success former agency – J. Walter Thompson – had over their history on the brand.

J. Walter Thompson were the creative minds behind the now famous “Happy Little Vegemites” campaign Australians still enjoy today. Vegemite enjoyed a strong and successful relationship with J. Walter Thompson that lasted 74 years and produced some of Australia’s favourite moments; connecting the brand to millions of homes and families in Australia and around the world.

A spokesperson from J. Walter Thompson said: “While we’re disappointed not to be working with Bega on the next chapter of the Vegemite journey, J. Walter Thompson is particularly proud of the agency’s role in building one of Australia’s most iconic and loved brands – we’ve been the constant during three brand-ownership changes, a shifting social landscape and reshaped breakfast category. In fact, our most recent ‘Start happy’ campaign has been highly successful in generating brand equity in what is generally a declining spreads sector.

“We are proud of the fact that our relationship with Vegemite spanned more than 70 years; one of the longest and most successful agency/brand relationships in the industry.  While it’s worth noting that we were actually awarded the most recent campaign work as the result of a competitive pitch last year, the length of our relationship is testament to the ongoing effectiveness of our work for Vegemite.

“It’s been a long and happy little Vegemite story for J. Walter Thompson – and we wish the brand well for its next brand chapter.”