Hermaneutics – Herman Manson

EXCLUSIVE: Wunderman Thompson SA on BMW Group win

by Herman Manson (@marklives) BMW Group South Africa has moved both its BMW and MINI brands to Wunderman Thompson South Africa, which will work various aspects of the account, including above the line, digital, social and direct, experiential, content and CRM. The appointment came into effect June 2019.

According to Haydn Townsend, Wunderman Thompson group CEO, BMW had been looking for a fully integrated agency with a strong digital edge and the original pitch process took close to a year once the intitial RFP had gone out. The pitch brief was spread across a number of challenges to test the agency’s competency with different parts of the marketing mix. Participating agencies received enough time to formulate a comprehensive response.

Previously, the business was held by Openco (recently incorporated into Grid Worldwide), which was appointed mid 2015, and before that by Ireland/Davenport (now Collective ID), of which it was a founding client. MINI was managed by MullenLowe SA and Black River FC before that.

Seamless customer experience

Wunderman Thompson, Townsend believes, won the business because it’s able to offer a seamless customer experience across touchpoints. He describes the win as a massive boost in morale for the agency, which he says had identified automotive as a sector it wanted to represent, and had honed in on BMW as the particular brand it most wanted to work with.

“The effect of adding a powerhouse like BMW Group SA to our stable is incalculable in terms of the energy it releases within the agency. This is not only because it’s global iconic status but also because its brands match our vision. This is a company that is constantly reinventing its brands and taking the future head on. This could just as easily be me talking about us. This is one of those times I am delighted that you are judged by the company you keep,” Townsend told MarkLives.com.

Grid announced earlier in August that the newly combined agency had won the Hyundai business.

Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.