FNB stuns market

Johannesburg - First National Bank has made the stunning decision to share its R300m advertising account between two small agencies - DDB South Africa and MetropolitanRepublic.

In a four-way pitch the two minnows, ranked 10th and 11th among Gauteng agencies based on staffing levels, of 50 to 60 at the end of last year, beat incumbent Draftfcb (ranked second) and Ogilvy (first).

No official announcement has been issued yet, but FNB is expected to spend less this year than it did in 2008, when The Nielsen Company measured its media spend at R299m.

Since the measurement is based on valuing advertising exposure on the basis of the rate card, this exaggerates the true spend, but doesn't include non-media activity.

It is expected to return to previous levels in 2010, when it has to leverage its World Cup sponsorship activity.

Both small agencies were honoured in the AdReview Awards in April. DDB was named Agency of the Year, and MetropolitanRepublic was listed as one of "Six Hot-Shops".

Led by Paul Warner, MetropolitanRepublic is part of The Jupiter Drawing Room & Partners group.

DDB was part of the same group until a few weeks ago, when DDB Worldwide bought a controlling interest. This followed a decision by Jupiter to sell a 49% stake in the business to WPP Group. Since WPP is a competitor of Omnicom, the parent company of DDB, the Jupiter-DDB link had to be severed.

The loss of the business, probably the biggest account move of the year so far, will be a severe blow to Draftfcb, which has also seen budget cuts by its other big clients, Vodacom and Toyota.

- Fin24.com