SINGAPORE, Thursday: Twenty-two years of a hugely successful New Zealand partnership have been recognised as the best agency-marketer partnership in Asia Pacific, with a Gold award to Subaru NZ and its agency BC&F Dentsu, in Campaign Asia’s Agency-Marketer Partnership Awards last night.
The relationship began back in 1996, when Wallis Dumper of Subaru and Daniel Barnes of what was then Barnes Advertising, came together to work on turning around the fortunes of Subaru in New Zealand. That partnership has continued ever since.
“Today, 22 years later, client and agency management still work closely on a weekly basis, and they continue to view most business problems first through a marketing lens.”
Dumper and Barnes still champion the relationship—a rare and invaluable form of continuity in industries with a curious appetite for change.
This success has previously been recognised by winning the Grand Effie for Sustained success. But more importantly, the hard work has paid of such that New Zealand has one of the highest proportions of Subaru owners anywhere in the world.
“This is a great example of the long-term thinking that both agency and clients pride themselves on.”
Subaru NZ MD Wallis Dumper said: “Part of our marketing ethos has been to dare to be different and way back in 1996 when we chose to partner with Daniel Barnes we were doing just that.
“We have never been scared of making hard decisions, such as going 100% All Wheel Drive, or losing our top selling Legacy Wagon model, which then in turn trebled sales of our Outback model.
“But one of the keys to success over the last few decades has been the innovative approach that first Daniel, then Paul Catmur as partner, and now Dentsu Aegis, have added to give even further value to the relationship.
“This has enabled us to back up our fantastic product with really strong strategic collaboration from our agency partner.
“This award is for all of those people both past and present who have worked on the Subaru brand in New Zealand, whether client or agency side, and most importantly today’s team, led by the Subaru marketing manager Daile Stephens, who continue to be excellent at what they do.”
Daniel Barnes said: “This is a real honour, and a tribute to all the hard work and achievements of Wal, Daile, and everyone at Subaru New Zealand and BC&F Dentsu over the last couple of decades. It’s been a true team effort.”
Paul Catmur, current ceo of BC&F Dentsu, said: “I’ve only worked on Subaru for 10 years which makes me a bit of a rookie.”
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