- Gregory Solman

LOS ANGELES Cramer-Krasselt has won creative, media and public relations duties for TransUnion's subsidiary TrueCredit.com following a review, the agency confirmed.

The move by one of the big three credit reporting firms consolidates at the independent agency assignments that had been split among Targetcom (creative) and The Rosen Group (PR), both in Chicago, and Inter/Media, Encino, Calif., which handled buying.

The work, which is expected to break early next year, will include traditional advertising, direct response, interactive and publicity.

Lucy Duni, client vp, marketing said: "While we were primarily in the market for strong interactive capabilities, Cramer-Krasselt impressed us with their strategic thinking, integrated offering and proven ability to take challenger brands to a leadership position within their respective categories."

Duni added that the timing of the new relationship would "play a pivotal role in enhancing our ability to reach out to consumers and get them thinking about their credit even more proactively." Other review contenders were not disclosed.

The client's measured media spend is on the rise of late, and the company spent more than $3 million in the first quarter after spending $7 million through all of 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Peter Krivkovich, president and CEO of Chicago-based C-K, said the win wasn't necessarily attributable to direct experience in the category, but to the agency's efforts "on products where there are similarities in changing the conversation, such as for Rozerem and Corona -- campaigns that influenced their categories."

He added that given the current economic malaise, "The time is right" for a major push to "people concerned about their credit."