In what is likely to be one of the biggest pitches of 2014, a number of adland’s big agencies are expected to throw their hats into the ring for the Bank of Ireland account which is in the process of being put out to pitch.
It is understood that Una Herlihy of Open Communications, the agency selection and media auditing firm headed up by Liam Pender, has been appointed by Bank of Ireland to handle the pitch process and a number of agencies will be invited to present their credentials over the coming weeks. The decision to put the account out to pitch follows on from the decision by Irish International to resign from the account which it held for the past 15 years.
Because a number of the bigger agencies are already working for other financial institutions, they can be more or less ruled out of the process. These include Rothco (AIB), Ogilvy (Ulster Bank), Publicis (permanent tsb) and Cawley Nea (Rabo Direct). This leaves agencies like DDFH&B, Chemistry, Owens DDB, Boys and Girls, McCannBlue and Acorn Marketing as likely contenders. Some sources suggest that other UK-based agencies might also be invited to pitch.
Apart from Irish International, Bank of Ireland currently works with Oliver Marketing, which embeds creative and digital teams into its clients’ offices. Founded in the UK, the Irish arm of Oliver Marketing is majority controlled and run by businessman Mark McCann and the agency currently has a team of creative, design and digital staff working in Bank of Ireland. The agency also has a team in situ in Britvic Ireland. Acorn Marketing, meanwhile, has also worked closely with the bank in recent years. Acorn, which is headed up by Phil Cottier, was acquired by US company Epsilon, an Alliance Data division in 2012, and has since been designated the Dublin team as the creative services delivery hub for all Epsilon markets outside North America. In addition eightytwenty also handles a number of digital briefs for the bank and also has staff in situ in its headquarters.
