The folks at Citizens Financial Group announced that they’ve shortlisted five agencies out of 15 that were participating in the review and as we guessed based on the tips we’ve been receiving, Arnold is nowhere to be found.
While the agency was supposedly planning to defend the Citizens ad business–which it handled since 2001–only three weeks ago, the client’s press release states that Arnold withdrew last week. If our calculations are correct, Citizens marks the fourth large client Arnold’s lost in the last year, joining Choice Hotels, GlaxoSmithKline and Radio Shack.
In a statement regarding Citizens, though, Arnold Worldwide CEO Fran Kelly says:
“Citizens has been an important client at our agency for almost a decade. We are extremely proud of the work we have created together and the results we have been able to generate. We wish them nothing but the best. When the review was announced, it became clear to us that there were other options for Arnold. So the time seemed right to focus on our future, and allow Citizens to focus on finding the right new partner. We look forward to servicing them well through the transition period.”
The final five instead that have been notified by CFG are Draftfcb, Grey, Mullen, Ogilvy and Y&R. The review is expected to be completed in December.