Vegemite maker moves media from Carat to Thinkerbell

Bega, the maker of Australian staple Vegemite, is consolidating media into its existing creative and strategy agency, Melbourne-based Thinkerbell. 

Starting in 2019, Thinkerbell's remit will expand to include media planning and buying for all Bega brands, including Vegemite, Bega Peanut Butter, Picky Picky, Farmer’s Table and ZoOsh.

Carat had held the media planning and buying for the past 10 years, both prior to and after Bega acquired Vegemite and a number of other brands from Mondelez in 2017, according to the brand.

"The main advantages for our clients are twofold," Adam Ferrier, Thinkerbell's co-founder and 'chief thinker', told Campaign Asia-Pacific. "Firstly, they now have just one, aligned contact point for communications strategy and thinking on the agency side. Secondly, this alignment helps in reducing overlap and costs, creating a more efficient way of working."  

Thinkerbell will be bringing on "additional media thinking" as a result of the win, Ferrier added. 

The change acknowledges a partnership Bega has been building with Thinkerbell over the course of the year, after its appointment as strategy and creative agency in March, Ben Hill, Bega marketing director, said in a media release.

“Since launching the ‘Tastes Like Australia’ Vegemite campaign together this year, we have enjoyed
growing both our businesses and business partnership," Hill said. “For us, it makes sense to have all our creative and media thinking under the one roof. We believe creative, strategy and media planning should work cohesively and be seamlessly integrated. It makes sense to have one partner and the results we have been achieving with Thinkerbell this year give us full confidence we have made the right decision.”

Ferrier and two partners, all veterans of Cummins & Partners, established Thinkerbell 18 months ago. The agency received an investment from PwC in August last year.