Put one in the win column for the New York offices of 72andSunny, which recently prevailed in a U.S.-only creative review for Marcus, the consumer lending platform launched approximately two years ago by banking giant Goldman Sachs.
According to multiple parties familiar with the business, the MDC Partners shop competed against MRM//McCann, Mother New York and incumbent Elephant in a review that ended in late September.
Elephant will reportedly retain the U.K. portion of the account, which is currently handled by its London office.
Yesterday, a Goldman Sachs representative said the company had no details to offer regarding future marketing plans for the Marcus brand and provided a link to its latest “Man on the Street” campaign (below), which came out last week.
Today, a spokesperson for 72 referred to the client, who declined to comment on the win. Elephant also declined to comment, and representatives for MRM//McCann and Mother New York have not responded to related queries.
According to an initial New York Times writeup, Goldman Sachs positioned Marcus as a banking solution “for ordinary folks” with the tagline “Debt happens” when it launched in 2016. Below is a 2017 spot continuing that theme along with Elephant’s most recent work for the client.
As we now know, Huge created Elephant in 2014 as a sister shop dedicated to the Apple business in San Francisco (and it was initially every bit as secretive as everything else Apple does). Since then it has expanded to include other clients like Beats by Dre and opened additional offices including one in New York and, as of July, a new location in London that our sources say was created to help launch Marcus in the U.K. this fall.
The agency has also begun very tentatively promoting itself and its hires, like those of vp, technology Charles Duncan, Jr. and vp of strategy Rachel Gold.
According to our sources, Elephant was heavily involved in nearly every aspect of Marcus, from web and app design to media planning and buying.
The recently concluded review, however, only concerned the brand’s creative work.
[Pic via Getty Images]