Publicis has strengthened its grip on the BT and EE marketing account, with Digitas UK scooping the customer marketing business from Wunderman Thompson and Saatchi & Saatchi picking up the BT Sport advertising brief.
Wunderman Thompson has handled the combined CRM account since 2017 after beating Proximity London in a head-to-head pitch triggered by the merger of the two telecoms businesses the year before.
The account encompasses acquisition and retention across both BT and EE brands in the consumer and B2B markets.
Both incumbents, OgilvyOne, which handled BT, and Publicis Chemistry, which ran the EE account, were knocked out of the pitch at an earlier stage.
At the time of the appointment, BT Group chief brand and marketing officer Zaid Al-Qassab said: “Our hope was to find an agency partner who would work with us to broaden and deepen our customer relationships. Wunderman proved that their experience, people and capabilities were the perfect fit for us. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with them.”
The appointment of Digitas, made without a pitch, marks a return of the business; Publicis Chemistry was merged into Digitas in 2017.
Meanwhile, Saatchi & Saatchi has worked with BT and EE since in August 2019. Prior to that, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO had held the BT account for nearly a quarter of a century.
BT and EE’s media has been handled by WPP’s Essence since 2017.
A BT spokesperson said: “BT Consumer division’s work, including Customer Communications and Prospect Demand Generation for BT and EE, with Wunderman Thompson has come to an end.
“We thank the whole team for their support in building our brands to the strong position they’re at today, and their efforts in creating award-winning campaigns including ‘Unscripted’ for BT Sport.”
A Wunderman Thompson spokesperson said: “We’ve had the pleasure to work with BT on some brilliant campaigns, resulting in over 80 awards including a prestigious Cannes Lions for the BT Sport ‘Unscripted’ campaign.”
The agency continues to work for BT across the BT Global and Enterprise divisions on integrated creative, data and technology briefs.
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