TBWA wins Visa's $600m global advertising account

by Nikki Sandison, Brand Republic 15-Sep-08, 15:45

LONDON - TBWA\ has won Visa's $600m (£335m) global creative account following a four-way pitch against BBDO Worldwide, WPP Group and Publicis Groupe.

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The US accounts for the biggest proportion of Visa's global spend and Omnicom-owned TBWA\Chiat\Day has been the incumbent on the US ad account since 2005.

In a statement Visa said that agency consolidation which takes effect January 1 2009, is expected to deliver creative synergies and other operating and cost efficiencies to Visa.

Antonio Lucio, chief marketing officer of Visa, said: "As Visa has evolved into a global public company, we challenged our agency partners around the world to provide a unified approach to our marketing initiatives. This decision reflects the creative strength and innovation of TBWA Worldwide as well as their ability to deliver against Visa's unique brand vision."

Visa Europe, which is a separate organisation to Visa, did not participate in the review. Its creative account is held by Saatchi & Saatchi, which introduced the new strapline "Life flows better with Visa".

Last month Visa released a TBWA-created ad in the US celebrating Michael Phelps' record-breaking achievement of winning 11 Olympic gold medals.

Earlier this year, Visa completed a consolidation of its global media arrangements. Omnicom agency OMD retained the US and Asia accounts, and won Latin America from Starcom and parts of Europe not belonging to Visa Europe.

Visa Europe opted to keep its incumbent agency, WPP's Mediaedge:cia, on its £90m account after the pitch involving OMD.