Greater China: JWT exit prompts BEA to review HK ad briefs

The media assignment remains with Maximize of Maxus.

BEA head of marketing and communications for personal banking division Joyce Tse said: "The aim of the pitch is to look for a marketing partner that can deliver sound strategic advice and differential creative."

BEA spent over HK$21 million (US$2.6 million) on advertising last year, up by nearly 115 per cent over the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

"Customer acquisition and retention are big issues to banks nowadays," said Tse. "We, like all other banks, are using all kinds of channels to drive customers' attention. TV, especially, is one of the tools."

She said that BEA's relationship with J.Walter Thompson had been "very good" in the past eight months, and stressed that the move was down to the global realignment of the HSBC account to JWT.

Prior to hiring JWT, BEA used a range of different agencies, including Leo Burnett and Interface Communications, to handle its projects.