Arnold Makes Move on Fidelity

BOSTON-A meeting last week between executives of Fidelity Investments and Arnold Worldwide may lead to a shift of advertising chores from current Fidelity roster shops to Arnold, sources said.

Arnold had recently added Web work from Fidelity [Adweek, Feb. 26], and agency chairman Ed Eskandarian and president Fran Kelly are looking to leverage that relationship—and their ties to client senior vice president of marketing Beth Pasciucco—into additional business, sources said.

Agency executives have on several occasions, including at last week’s meeting, discussed ways of applying the shop’s “brand essence” philosophy to Fidelity in a “broader context than just interactive,” said one source familiar with the situation.

The ultimate goal, sources said, is to unseat roster agencies Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston and Gotham, New York, which handle Fidelity’s retail advertising and promotions for its Powerstreet online trading service, respectively.