Breaking news: Ireland/Davenport wins Vodacom advertising account
February 8, 2013
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PDFby Herman Manson (@marklives) Industry sources have confirmed that Ireland/Davenport has won the Vodacom advertising account. It was announced earlier this week that Draftfcb had lost the business after 19 years. A formal announcement is yet to be made by Vodacom and/or Ireland-Davenport.
Ireland/Davenport describes itself as a boutique communications agency and clients include BMW, Investec and SA Tourism. The agency was founded by Executive Creative Directors Philip Ireland and John Davenport. Susan Napier is the Managing Director. It is a WPP associate.
More details to follow
Update: Official Vodacom statement received
“We entered into an agency pitch process last year. The review was a really competitive process and we have made a decision this week that it’s the right time to make a change in advertising agencies. Ireland/Davenport has been appointed as Vodacom’s new creative brand advertising agency, effective 1 April 2013.”
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Interesting. WPP international have a bespoke division called Team Red that services the Vodafone business. Obviously a global alliance appointment, just a pity that their first choice WPP agency handles the Cell C business locally.
But then Why did O&M pitch for Vodafone, as Cell-C is their client. Surely you can’t pitch for a client if there is a conflict of business? Congrats to Ireland/Davenport. “I guess Vodafone have had it, with their former agency”
Well done guys. Well deserved.
Maybe they should take the MTN ad off their website…
I will be very interested to see how an agency the size of ID manages to accommodate a piece of business the size of Vodacom into its existing infrastructure and culture. I personally believe it is irresponsible to even take on the challenges that a piece of business this large presents. I have no doubt that Vodacom will swallow ID whole and the rest of their clients will be running for the hills soon, it is inevitable. I bet BMW is kicking themselves for chosing to remain with the agency for 2013. We saw what happened to Jupiter Drawing Room a few years ago after their huge win of the big 3, it simply cannot be sustained. The irony is that ID will probably use the same ‘stand alone’ agency model as abroad, so the Vodacom business won’t even see the inside of ID as it exists today!
So now we see from the quality of creative that Ireland/Davenport is producing that it wasn’t a decision based on the best agency for the job. The quality has dropped to the substandard levels never actually seen before from a big brand. It is literally beyond belief. The examples of Vodacom creative being produced that still maintain the high levels of standard are accounts not currently with Ireland Davenport. The question is, can Vodacom as a brand survive shaking hands with the WPP Devil?