McCann Erickson wins A&L task

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has appointed McCann Erickson Birmingham, without a pitch, to work on its brand positioning and television advertising.

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has appointed McCann Erickson Birmingham, without a pitch, to work on its brand positioning and television advertising.

The appointment was overseen by A&L director of brand marketing and e-commerce Stephen Leonard, who says the agency will work on brand and communications strategy. He adds that the appointment does not mark a shift away from A&L’s direct-response approach to marketing: McCann will be creating a direct-response TV campaign for the bank.

A&L will continue to work with a number of roster agencies, including Big Communications, CCHM:Ping and Optimise, on a project basis. It will also continue to use its internal design department.

Separately, A&L is reviewing its &£17m media account, held by MediaVest Manchester. A number of agencies, including the incumbent, are pitching for the business and a decision is due shortly.

Earlier this year, A&L became one of the biggest online advertisers after announcing it was ploughing &£10m into the medium this year (MW April 8). Traditionally, the bank has heavily promoted its loans with inserts in newspapers and magazines.

Last month, A&L terminated its five-year sponsorship of the Car Price Index, which had led to a furious row with Renault after research suggested that its Laguna was the country’s fastest-depreciating car (MW September 16). In July, A&L announced it was shutting 46 branches, 15 per cent of its total presence on the high street.