Starcom scoops £7m B&B brief

Building society Bradford & Bingley (B&B) Group has consolidated the &£6.6m media account for all its brands into roster agency Starcom Motive, following a two-way pitch.

The business had been split between PHD – responsible for the B&B bank and The Market Place brands, worth &£5.6m – and Starcom Motive, which handled the &£1m Charcol account.

An initial shortlist of six was reduced to a run-off between the two incumbents. MediaCom was invited to pitch but withdrew due to client conflict – understood to be with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

B&B had initially hoped to include media buying for its estate agency network in the pitch, but this will continue to be handled at a local level due to practical difficulties.

B&B group marketing director Mark Howe says the review was carried out in order to achieve economies of scale and that while B&B has worked well with both agencies, Starcom Motive’s superior technology swung the decision.

The Market Place is the country’s largest independent financial adviser and is run alongside B&B’s high street banking operations. Charcol and Charcolonline are B&B’s upmarket mortgage-broking divisions. B&B demutualised at the end of 2000, and since then has pursued a strategy of providing financial advice and property-related services.