Cincinnati-based financial corporation Fifth Third Bank has picked Pereira & O’Dell as its new creative agency after a review.
The business had been with Leo Burnett Chicago since that shop won a 2011 pitch, beating incumbent Olson. Sources tell us the Publicis agency defended its business in this review.
After winning the account more than five years ago, LB launched a rebranding effort led, in part, by strategy director Adam Friedman (who coincidentally just left for Cossette Chicago). It created a series of campaigns including #WhyIFight, which starred Patrick Dempsey in partnership with charity Stand Up to Cancer.
“Fifth Third sought a highly collaborative creative partner that could re-energize our brand by helping to deliver on our brand vision to be the one bank people most value and trust,” said the client’s SVP of marketing Dennis Giglio, citing P&O’s “fresh and modern approach.”
The company, whose name combines Third Bank and Fifth Bank, is owned by Fifth Third Bancorp and claims to have debuted the first shared ATM network way back in 1977. It also went through some executive changes before the review: Giglio, who had been VP of marketing for Nationwide, left that company after more than a decade last summer to join the bank.
We’ve been aware of the review for a couple of weeks, but client reps didn’t comment or confirm, presumably because they wanted to make sure the contract had been signed.
This will be a mid-sized account. Fifth Third has 1,200 locations across 10 states, and Kantar Media’s latest numbers have the company spending $28 million on paid media in the U.S. in 2015 and $20 million from January to September of last year. Indie Empower MediaMarketing of Cincinnati will handle the chain’s planning/buying business moving forward.
The first Pereira & O’Dell campaign will launch over the summer in an attempt to again rebrand the bank, which recently announced plans to partner with secure payment network Zelle. Pereira & O’Dell managing director Henry Arlander said the agency looks to “deliver a campaign that inspires, motivates trial and establishes a more disruptive presence in the marketplace.”