No To Stw: Carat Keeps $40m Media Deal
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday April 19, 2007
INSURANCE Australia Group has blown the ambitions of STW to stitch up the insurer's entire communications business by awarding its $40 million media buying and planning contract to the incumbent, Carat Media.
STW media companies IKON and Mindshare were considered frontrunners for the IAG media contract after the listed marketing services firm poached IAG from M&C Saatchi without a review under a deal in which it would run IAG's communications with the so-called "village" concept.IAG confirmed yesterday it had opted to reappoint Carat to its media business but IAG senior marketing executives were unavailable for comment.Some observers said IAG might have been spooked by the idea of having all of its business parked with one supplier and opted to retain Carat to keep all parties honest."I think they want to see how STW goes then work out what they do with the media," one executive said. "Having all their eggs in one basket might have been a bit spooky for them."Another senior media agency executive, who did not want to be named, said: "Whilst the village concept can work for some, others will want to break their business up for a feeling of control. I think there might have been some conflict issues in there too with other STW insurance clients." STW is establishing an autonomous management group to run IAG out of Paddington, pulling in expertise from the 60 or so companies in the group when needed.
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald
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