According to sources involved in the process, Visa wants to consolidate its global media account with one agency, in bid to reduce costs ahead of its upcoming IPO, expected to take place by early 2008.
The business is currently split between Omnicom’s OMD, which handles US and Asia-Pacific, along with WPP’s Mediaedge:cia (Europe) and Publicis Groupe agency Starcom (Canada).
The fourth holding company involved – Aegis – counts a relationship with Visa via its Velocity sports marketing agency in the US.
In addition to the buying component, agencies have been asked to evaluate Visa’s sponsorship strategy. At present Visa is a major investor in global sports events, including the Olympics, the Rugby World Cup and – from 2010 – the Fifa World Cup.
‘Chemistry’ meetings are slated to take place at the end of this month at Visa’s global HQ in San Francisco, followed by final pitch meetings at the same location in early November.
It is unclear whether Visa intends to conduct regional or local market meetings in Asia-Pacific.
