Axa plans major ad reviews after merger with GRE

French insurance firm Axa is to review its advertising agency

arrangements once regulatory and shareholder approval for its

acquisition of Guardian Royal Exchange is cleared next month.

Gary Shaughnessy, marketing manager and board director of Axa UK, said:

’A strategic review of current agencies and how we organise ourselves

will take place.’

The review will affect TBWA GGT Simons Palmer, which was handed Axa’s

pounds 5m account in March last year. The agency has created bumper

break ads for FA Cup games. Axa put pounds 40m into a four-year

sponsorship deal of the competition last year.

It also threatens BMP DDB’s hold on the pounds 3m Guardian Direct

account, which it won in June last year.

Both companies’ media accounts, held by BMP Optimum, will be

reviewed.

Direct agencies Rapier, McCann-Erickson Manchester and TDA Marketing

Communications will also be affected.

This article was first published on Marketing