DISAPPOINTMENT FOR LOCAL INDUSTRY AS BANKWEST MEDIA EXITS STARCOM

In a blow to the local industry, BankWest media is to be consolidated under parent company Commonwealth Bank’s media contract with Ikon Communications. Starcom WA has booked all WA media for the bank for the past two years.
Starcom WA managing director Alan Matthews said the move wasn’t unexpected following the Commonwealth’s acquisition of BankWest at the end of 2008.
“I think we’ve done a pretty fair job over the past couple of years…We were on a fee with BankWest so it’s not terribly destructive in terms of our bottom line but it’s still disappointing.”
Matthews said the move was to take effect from mid-February.
The Commonwealth Bank bought BankWest from UK-based HBOS at the end of last year as HBOS started to feel the effects of the global financial crisis.
Starcom Mediavest Group picked up the BankWest national media account from the beginning of 2007 following a tender the previous October. As part of the arrangement, local media was booked by the Starcom WA office.
Ironically, Ikon is owned by STW Group, which also owns The Brand Agency and Maxus, BankWest’s previous creative and media agencies.
BankWest moved its creative account from The Brand to Host in Sydney in 2007 when it embarked on an aggressive expansion in the eastern states. That strategy was abandoned when HBOS ran into trouble and itself was acquired by Lloyds Banking Group.
At this stage it is believed Host is continuing as BankWest’s creative agency. The Commonwealth uses San Francisco agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for its creative work.