In wake of MercerBell declining to pitch Cummins & Partners appointed lead agency of Allianz
UPDATED – As previously reported by CB, MercerBell declined to re-pitch for the Allianz account after seven years of high sales and internationally awarded work.
It has now been revealed that the latest Allianz campaign, which dropped the ‘Ahhh Allianz’ tagline, was created by newly appointed lead agency Cummins & Partners, Sydney.
Last week Julie Dormand (left), managing director at MercerBell said the agency was incredibly proud of the work they have done with Allianz over many years: “We created the ‘Ahhh Allianz’ device which has been picked up in four other markets and won a coveted Silver Effie in 2015 for long-term results. These results are all testament to the collaborative partnership that the MercerBell team enjoyed with Allianz. We wish them every success in the future.”
12 Comments
Probably a wise decision given the appalling new creative and matching new staff.
I respect their decision to not pitch and also the client for sticking with a campaign for 7 years and the agency. Doesn’t happen often these days.
Good on you for not pitching. It takes guts. But I think the new work is also courageous. It’s totally different for a category full of very similar campaigns. They all use humourous characters and accidents.
But Allianz’s new work is trying something different. Which is refreshing in this category.
You know you’ve made a crap ad when other agency’s are PRing the fact that they didn’t make the aforementioned crap ad.
I commend Mercer Bell on not pitching. They had nothing to prove. They’ve done solid, effective work for this brand. There was no reason for the client to shop elsewhere.
Onya MB. More agencies should decline in these situations than they currently do.
It was important that MercerBell made clear they aren’t responsible for this complete departure from a very good brand property which still had lots of legs if handled intelligently
“ahhh” was a mnemonic, not an idea.
And a crap mnemonic at that.
What is Allianz? A dentists.
It wasn’t worth saving anymore than a rotten tooth.
Stop confusing little bits if fluff with brand equity.
It’s the root canal of mediocrity.
That campaign is the sole reason I will never do business with Allianz, whatever they do.
If all you buy is the advertising, without looking at the pricing, the utility and the product offering you need to get off this blog and get some therapy.
YOUI is actually in a better place creatively than where Allianz is at right now,
Old work was a smidge annoying, new work ain’t better. They say we say blah blah something something blah blah. I don’t need to be inspired by Allianz. I want better cover than the other mob. Wallpaper innit?