PHD keeps ANZ's media account after a pitch that ran almost a year

By James Dore · 2026-10-02

A pitch that paused for a bank reset

PHD Melbourne has retained ANZ Group's Australian media account after a formal review that began in 2025, stalled mid-process while the bank conducted a sweeping internal overhaul, and concluded close to a year after it started. Atomic 212 was the final challenger in the pitch. The independent agency leaves without the account but was named this week as media agency for the Victorian Liberal Party.

Mumbrella, which broke the story on 2 October, reports the pitch paused and restarted during ANZ's broader strategic review. ANZ held a Strategy Update on 13 October 2025 at which CEO Nuno Matos announced four new executive committee members and the bank's 2030 direction.^[1] A media agency pitch rarely survives that kind of internal reset unchanged. The review restarted, and PHD came out the other side still holding the account.

Matos told investors the operating environment had tightened sharply. "Banking in Australia and New Zealand is highly competitive, with a 30% decline in returns across the major banks over the last decade," he said.^[1] A bank under that kind of margin pressure scrutinises every dollar in its cost base, including the agencies it pays to spend its media budget.

Fourteen years and counting

PHD opened its Melbourne office in 2012 with 15 staff and ANZ as its foundation client.^[2] By May 2020 the office had grown to over 80 staff, more than a fivefold increase over eight years, and ANZ remained one of its flagship accounts.^[2] This retention takes the relationship to 14 years.

ANZ ran a formal external pitch rather than simply renewing, which reflects how seriously the bank now treats the decision. Procurement teams at major financial services advertisers increasingly push for competitive processes, and the brief has expanded well beyond media planning into data capability and technology readiness. PHD won that argument across close to a year of formal process.

PHD's form in 2026

Omnicom Media says PHD ranked number one globally for total new business in the first half of 2026, within US $3.3 billion in new billings awarded across the Omnicom Media network.^[3] The ANZ retention sits inside that run of form.

PHD won the Officeworks media account from Initiative in September 2026, as this publication reported at the time.^[4] Two significant Australian account results in the same few weeks, ANZ retained and Officeworks won, give PHD Melbourne a strong close to the 2026 new-business calendar. PHD sits within Omnicom Media, a global network that puts its buying power at more than US $70 billion.^[5]

What this pitch tells media buyers

Major Australian advertisers used to run media reviews every three to five years, largely as a pricing exercise run inside the marketing department. ANZ's review ran for close to a year, paused for a board-level strategy decision, and involved at least two agencies in a formal competitive process, with neither ANZ nor Omnicom commenting on the outcome. That is procurement logic applied to media buying, and it is increasingly the norm among Australia's largest advertisers.

For agencies pitching major financial services accounts, the brief now includes the client's corporate strategy, not just their media spend. ANZ's review did not conclude until the bank's wider strategic review had run its course. PHD's next task is executing against a strategy shaped across that year-long process.

James Dore

James Dore is Strategy Director at Bushnote, a leader in SEO and AEO in Australia. He writes on search, AI and the technology decisions shaping government and industry.