How DDB lost Maccas after half a century; the week in AI; Unmade Index in the green
Welcome to an end of week edition of Unmade. Today: When you lose your oldest client; our wrap on the key AI events for the media and marketing world; The Unmade Index has a sympathy surge.
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Shut up and don’t take my money
Like political careers, all agency-client relationships eventually end in failure.
This week McDonald’s fired DDB after 54 years. DDB led Maccas to the top of the mountain, and then, as is often the case, downhill.
One of the people responsible for stealing the crown from McDonald’s as Australia’s best fast food advertiser is now in charge.
New CMO Annabel Fribence was at KFC when its “Shut up and take my money” positioning saw the brand overtake McDonald’s for cultural salience.
Thanks to its app and associated loyalty scheme, McDonald’s is still market leader, but KFC connects better and skews younger.
It will be the job of Wieden+Kennedy, on the McDonald’s roster since January, to help its foundational client in Australia retake the lead. W+K already works with the brand in north America.
With long term agency relationships, there are always moments where things wobble behind the scenes. The art of account management is steadying the ship when it happens.
A few years back the McDonald’s account was in peril when DDB’s Sydney team struggled but the agency turned to colleagues in NZ to add creative firepower and they got back on track.
There were also deep relationships. Previous McDonald’s chief customer officer Chris Brown was DDB global boss and before that ran the Australian operation.
And the top tier at DDB has shifted. DDB’s AUNZ president Andrew Little, a client whisperer, departed this month as Omnicom moved on a slew of local creative agency bosses. Marty O’Halloran, DDB’s global boss who also came up through the Australian and NZ markets, retired at the start of the year.
Perhaps DDB Sydney’s CEO Cheryl Marjoram, in the market for less than four years, didn’t have the long-term relationships
What is not a great recommendation for DDB is that Fribence knows DDB well despite her new arrival at Maccas. In her most recent role at Westpac for three years, DDB was the lead agency. Typically a CMO hires their previous agency rather than fires them.
It’s also a bad start for the unified one-group Omnicom (soon to encompass IPG) model being rolled out by the newly arrived Nick Garrett. I’d be willing to bet the well connected Garrett worked the phones to try to save the day.
The fact that Omnicom agencies OMD, Eleven and Annalect remain on the roster suggests that McDonald’s had a problem with the work of DDB rather than Omnicom.
Having picked up Woolworths’ Everyday Rewards under the TBWA banner (despite the potential client conflict of DDB’s contribution to Coles’ Smith Street bespoke agency, it’s too early to say how the single back end Omnicom will present in market.
As to McDonald’s, all eyes are now on Wieden + Kennedy.
The week in AI: getting Siri-ous, and more highs and buys
HumAIn curator Cat McGinn writes:
From Siri’s new dance moves to Canberra’s copyright crackdown, this week in AI saw banks buddy up with bots, holding companies swap Don Draper for Don Data, and Perplexity make an audacious play for the world’s most-used browser.
From Don Draper to Don Data
Holdco WPP redoubled its investment in AI and data with a new data-driven AI playbook, unveiling new tools for campaign planning, creative development, and audience insights. The company aims to leverage AI to inform creatives, boost efficiency, and win new clients emphasising measurable results from these expanded data platforms.
iSpy with my little AI
Apple is planning to regain lost ground in the AI wars by becoming central to consumer home life. The tech giant’s plans reportedly include transforming Siri into a lifelike, animated assistant and embedding it in AI-powered hardware. The company is said to be working on a Pixar‑style robot that can swivel, track movement, and dance, alongside launching a six‑inch smart display by 2026 and a privacy-focused AI security camera.
Banking on artificial intelligence
CommBank and OpenAI announced a multi‑year strategic partnership with OpenAI, becoming the AI giant’s leading banking collaborator in Australia. The move will equip staff with enterprise‑grade AI tools, including ChatGPT Enterprise, and signalled joint efforts to boost fraud detection and deliver personalised customer service through generative AI.
Perplexity tries to polish Chrome off
Perplexity’s shock “unsolicited” offer to buy Google’s Chrome for $34.5B (more than the AI content scraper’s current valuation) signalled a power grab over how audiences access the internet, positioning AI to shape discovery and media consumption at the source. The move underscored browsers as the next strategic battleground for influence.
Unmade Index sees strong finish to the week
Seven was the one stock on the Unmade Index to see a fall on Friday, losing 3.3%.
The rest of the index followed the lead of the wider ASX All Ordinaries which closed on a new high tonight.
Among the star performers was Southern Cross Austereo which rose by 5.1% despite having to make the awkward admission that Ido Leffler had accidentally sold some shares during a blackout period where directors are not allowed to do so. Leffler only sold $614.46 worth of shares, SCA told the ASX.
Ooh Media also had a string finish to the week, rising by 3.2%. ARN Media was up 1.1%
The Unmade Index closed on 578.1 points, up by 1.17% for the day. However, unlike the All Ords, the Unmade Index is far from its 2022 opening high of 1000 points.
More from Mumbrella…
Opinion: Has fragmentation gone too far?
‘I put all my skin in the game’: Ebiquity CEO Ruben Schreurs on overseeing the world’s top brands
How does Netflix compare to the other streamers, here and abroad?
Dentsu Japan props up group, job cuts to come after big APAC revenue declines
Don’t believe everything you read: OMG and WPP tie in Comvergence rankings
Time to leave you to your Friday night.
Don’t forget to tune into ABC Radio National shortly for MediaLand. The show starts at 5.30, and will pop up in your podcast feed not long after. Tonight’s guest is Peter Greste. We also discuss SBS boss James Taylor’s exit to Ooh Media and the big Netflix price rise.
I’ll be back Best of the Week in the morning.
Have a great night
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade + Mumbrella
tim@unmade.media
