Citibank awards Y&R dollars 800m global prize

Citibank has stunned its roster agencies by handing its entire

dollars 800 million global account to Young & Rubicam Inc.

The financial services giant asked its three roster agencies in New York

- J. Walter Thompson, Lowe & Partners/SMS and Foote Cone & Belding - to

pitch for a new dollars 150 million global branding account. However,

Y&R, a late entrant to the pitch, walked away with the entire

international task.

The centralisation figure equals, and possibly outweighs, IBM’s global

move into Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in 1994.

FCB and Optimedia will lose an estimated pounds 1.5 million of billings

in the UK. Its most recent work for Citibank was a pounds 600,000 TV

campaign for the launch of Citiscape, a free PC banking service, in

April.

John Reed, the chairman of Citibank, said: ’We see the brand name

becoming more important. Everything we do will be with the intent of

building a branded identity that promises a unique experience, and then

delivering on the promise.’

Although Citibank is not a household name in Europe, it has a dominant

presence in the US and Asia Pacific.

Earlier this year, the bank formed a global consumer marketing unit to

work across all its business divisions - cards, retail banking,

investment products, and private banking.

Peter Georgescu, the chairman and chief executive of Y&R Inc, said: ’We

are very proud that a company such as Citibank has confidence in our

ability to be its global partner. This is the kind of strategic step for

which Citibank is known.’

This article was first published on Campaign