Nab Ad Revamp Rocks Agencies

The Age

Monday November 13, 2006

By JULIAN LEE, SYDNEY

NATIONAL Australia Bank is expected to announce within a fortnight that it has awarded its $30 million advertising account to Australia's oldest advertising agency, Clemenger BBDO.

After a long review, the bank has decided to consolidate all of its advertising into one agency.

The move is widely read as a signal that from early next year NAB will embark on a more aggressive marketing campaign to win back market share, the final phase in its recovery strategy after the currency trading scandal in 2003 that seriously damaged the institution.

Neither the bank nor Clemenger, which is 46.67 per cent owned by US ad giant, BBDO Worldwide, were willing to confirm the news, despite mounting speculation within the advertising industry that the account had already landed.

The loss will be a severe blow to marketing services company Photon Group, which paid $9 million in February for ad agency See Life Differently, which handles the bulk of NAB's advertising.

Photon's shares dropped 26? last Tuesday on speculation that the account loss was imminent. See has reportedly been shedding staff in anticipation of the loss.

Photon chief executive Matt Bailey denied that the business was out the door. "We still have a relationship with NAB. We are still very much there," Mr Bailey said from the US, where he is on business.

Another loser will be George Patterson Y&R, which handles NAB's credit cards advertising.

Clemenger is also expected to be thrown the bonus of handling the advertising for NAB's wealth management group, MLC, which was also handled by See.

Industry sources estimate that Clemenger could receive up to $6 million in fees to handle the bank's advertising, direct marketing and strategy.

Peter Biggs, managing director of Clemenger's Melbourne office, declined to comment on the win.

The slow but steady rebuilding of the NAB brand - dubbed "The Journey" by bank executives - began in March 2005 with a series of ads that showed athletes training for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, a metaphor for the bank's own return to financial fitness.

Geoff Lynch, a spokesman for NAB, said: "This was a business-as-usual review of the sort we conduct every couple of years.

"We do it because our needs change, as do the capabilities of the agencies that we work with. It's logical to go back and look at the agency mix."

© 2006 The Age

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