According to Campaign, HSBC has finally made its decision on who will handle its approximately $650 million global ad account and it’s sizable enough so that it will be not one, but three of the five agencies that were shortlisted last year (McCann dropped out in November and BBDO was the other). The financial institution has chosen incumbent JWT, Grey London and Saatchi Saatchi, with the first two taking on lead agency duties while the third will service HSBC’s premier and wealth business globally.
Regarding the five-month process to get to this point, HSBC group GM/global head of marketing Chris Clark, tells Campaign, among other things, “This has been an exhaustive and thorough review, with input from our four global businesses and five regions, and we’re extremely grateful for the contributions and professionalism of all the agencies involved.”
Check out the full story here.
Update: We’ve received a memo from sources that went out globally to staff today from JWT Europe/London CEO, Toby Hoare, who has been with the agency since 2005. Peep it after the jump.
“All,
This week saw the conclusion of our HSBC global review. When this process started back in November, the client made two things very clear:
The quality of our work, thinking and creativity was not in dispute. HSBC are proud of our significant success in building their brand to become the world’s number one banking brand.
This was a commercial review that would result in a roster agency arrangement.We are pleased to announce that following our significant efforts over the past months, we retain our lead agency status. HSBC have decided to award us the majority of the business. This includes:
The global brand (including airports)
All cross business divisional activity, globally
The Advance proposition, globally
The RBWM (retail) business in Asia
The RBWM (retail) business in Middle East
The RBWM (retail) business in North America
The global private banking business
Plus we have been awarded the only new global assignment, the 150th Anniversary campaign (starting now for 2015)We will move to a roster arrangement within which Grey will handle the RBWM (retail) business in LATAM and Europe plus the commercial banking division. Saatchi and Saatchi will handle Premier globally and some golf sponsorship activity.
We have great ambition for the HSBC brand and our continued partnership with the bank in the future.
Best,
Toby Hoare
CEO, JWT Europe”