Abbey National chief calls £11m DM review

Abbey National chief executive Luqman Arnold is overseeing a review of the bank’s direct marketing agencies.

The incumbent agencies are Iceberg Marketing and TDA. Abbey National spent &£11.3m on direct mail over the past year, according to Nielsen Media Research. TDA has had the account since 2000 and Iceberg was appointed last year.

Arnold has already taken the industry by surprise by personally overseeing reviews of the bank’s creative and media agencies. TBWA/ London replaced Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper in May for the bank’s &£18m creative account and MindShare and Naked replaced Carat in June.

Arnold has also instructed Wolff Olins to carry out a fundamental brand review. Last week PR agency Band & Brown were appointed to work with Wolff Olins on a brand campaign.

Since the agency appointments, BT Retail’s managing director of consumer division Angus Porter has taken the top marketing post as customer propositions director at the Abbey (MW June 12). He will also be overseeing this latest review.

Arnold was appointed chief executive of Abbey National last year. He is heading the bank’s attempts to reinvent itself, after it announced record losses of nearly &£1bn in February. Its new strategy focuses on core high street activities and aims to create a customer-led model for financial services.

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