Barclays’ ad account stays with BBH London
Barclays has retained BBH London as its creative agency following a review which kicked off earlier this year.
Barclays retains BBH
The Drum understands the agency will work on a piece of repositioning work for the bank which is due to launch in the coming months.
BBH London had worked on the Barclays’ multimillion pound advertising account for over 17 years when the review was announced in January this year.
“We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve produced with Barclays over the past 17 years, but we never rest on our laurels. We pitched against some of the best agencies in town and our deep expertise and future-facing skills proved that we continue to be the best creative partner for Barclays as it enters its next chapter,” said Karen Martin, managing director of BBH London.
“We’re excited for the next phase of our relationship with this brilliant piece of business.”
BBH won Barclays from Leagas Delaney without a pitch in 2001. Under its watch, the brand had run celebrity-fronted ads as well as spots designed to educate customers on digital banking and cybersecurity.
However, Barclays has undergone a period of change internally, with longtime head of media Nicola Shepherd-Banks having departed in mid-2018 for AnalogFolk.
She was replaced by Thomas Green, who formerly served as client director for WPP agency Maxus.
While The Drum understands that Shepherd-Bank's departure was not the catalyst for the advertising review, it did spark a change in media agencies last September when the bank ended its three-year relationship with Maxus and moving planning and buying responsibilities to OMD.
Then, after a surprise review last year, the company's credit card unit Barclaycard moved its ad business out of Iris and AKQA, appointing Droga5 as its lead creative agency.
The Drum has reached out to Barclays but was awaiting comment at the time of writing.