Co-op Bank appoints MullenLowe London as lead creative agency
The Co-operative Bank has appointed MullenLowe London as its first creative agency of record.
Co-op
The bank has weathered a turbulent storm before spinning off from its parent company. In 2013, it nearly collapsed after the discovery of a £1.5bn black hole in its finances, then, its chairman Paul Flowers was arrested for class A drug offences.
Last September, its chief financial officer John Worth resigned after negotiating a £700m rescue deal, which saw the Co-op Group sell off the stake it had.
However, with the the appointment of a new chief executive in Andrew Bester in July (its fifth boss in seven years) and its hiring of MullenLowe to develop the first brand campaign independent of the Co-op Group, the bank will be hoping to draw a line under its difficult past.
“We were very impressed with MullenLowe’s excellent customer insight, which will form the basis of our brand strategy as we move forward," said marketing director, Alastair Pegg.
Executive partner at MullenLowe, Tom Knox, added: “As a customer-led ethical bank, The Co-operative Bank has a unique position in UK retail banking. We are very proud to have been appointed and are looking forward to working with them to leverage their co-operative heritage in today’s market.”
Leo Burnett had handled the bank's advertising when it was part of the wider Group. However, the agency recently stopped working on the creative account altogether.
The pitch was run by Murphy Cobb Associates.