The pitch was contested by incumbent agency Doremus, OMD and Zenith. It was initiated as part of a drive to consolidate the brand’s media partners into a single agency agreement, ahead of a branding campaign later this year across Asia-Pacific.
“We’re inviting (creative) agencies to pitch for the business, focusing on consumer and corporate divisions,” said Aubrey Ho, head of marcoms, Asia-Pacific, ABN Amro.
Carat has been tasked with strategic brand development along with media planning and buying in China, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Dubai, South Korea and Australia, where the bank’s media business has previously been handled by a number of agencies.
The account will be headed by Carat’s Hong Kong-based senior VP William Swayne, who has been handling the network’s international accounts, with former Starcom UK financial specialist James Smyllie joining as account director.
“We are staffing up and we will reorganise so that we have financial specialists on that account,” said Lyn Rogers, regional business director, Carat Asia-Pacific.
The pitch follows the launch of ABN Amro’s global ‘Making more possible’ positioning in late 2005, which supported the company’s 2003 global rebranding campaign.
