Universal McCann bags AIA corporate media account

Universal McCann will handle media ahead of the company’s initial public offering later this year.

The brand is keen to shake off its association with disgraced US parent AIG and present itself as an Asia-only operation. AIG has been bailed out by the US Government four times, and owes the US taxpayer around US$182.5 billion. Earlier this year, it ran into controversy when details of its executive bonus scheme, paid for after the bail-out funding, came to light.

AIA recently appointed several agencies to help boost its brand image. It hired Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific to the main consumer-facing account. The appointment followed a pitch in May that included Rapp and Bates141, held out of Hong Kong. It has also appointed M&C Saatchi to the corporate account.

Meanwhile, wwwins Consulting has launched a new AIA website which aims to emphasise the leading life insurer’s Asian roots and underline its understanding of local markets. This follows the roll out of a corporate campaign developed by M&C Saatchi. The agency recently won corporate marketing duties for the brand.

In February, Carat China was appointed as AIA's Chinese media agency, after pitching against incumbent PHD and Universal McCann.

AIA has more than US$60 billion of assets with 20,000 employees across 13 Asian markets. It has 20 million customers, which is nearly one-third of AIG’s total customer base, and its IPO could raise more than U$4 billion.

Representatives at UM and AIA did not wish to comment as Media went to press.