Banks scotch Mastercard

Mastercard’s attempts to secure top-up financing from UK banks for a 4m to 5m pre-Christmas advertising push are understood to have collapsed.

The new campaign through Publicis is believed to have been approved and scripts agreed for a new ad burst in the autumn.

Mastercard’s first round of generic ads – worth 3.5m – began in December last year. They were developed by Publicis and ran with the “Ah Mastercard” theme. The ads were funded solely by Mastercard.

It is understood the second burst was to be half funded by the banks.

Since the first campaign, the banks have opened negotiations with Mastercard in New York to sell the Access brand for more than 50m.

“The view is: ‘Why spend on Mastercard when we are already spending on Access’,” says a source close to the negotiations.