M&C wins back Qantas Visa brief

The direct marketing arm of the Melbourne-based agency won the account in a pitch with Clemenger Proximity and DDB Rapp Collins. Long-time incumbent, The Moult Agency (previously Cohen & Wells), is understood to have refrained from re-pitching.

M&C Saatchi originally launched the card as the Qantas Telstra Visa Card in 1996. The agency later won the lucrative Vodafone account, which generated friction with market rival Telstra and subsequently forced M&C to resign the Visa Card account. M&C Saatchi Direct managing director, Andy Pontin, said the agency was able to regain the account after Telstra tuned down its involvement with the card.

Pontin said most of the work would be below-the-line, focusing on membership drive and back-end promotions and marketing. "With Telstra's change it's not just that Telstra is dropping back (from being a lead partner), it's that the whole product is changing, Pontin said. The previous product worked by offering customers loyalty points to be spent on a range of products in return for their use of the card.

However, research found that 95 per cent of customers simply transferred their points to frequent flyer schemes, prompting the card's marketers to abandon the other product affiliations.

"Now, we're single-mindedly appealing to people who want frequent flyer points, Pontin said.

The agency has enjoyed a new business run of late, last month snaring the Woolworths supermarket account, with billings of around $75 million.

It also recently locked away the Reflex Copy Paper and The Royal Agriculture Society accounts.