This story was updated @ 12:20 on Nov. 27, 2013
Y&R, KBS+ and Maxus are the first in the agency pool
Update: Since publishing this story, Marketing spoke to Joanna Rotenberg, BMO’s chief marketing officer, about the brand’s new “collaborative” model in which Y&R is the lead agency and others, including KBS+, will contribute “as required” on specific parts of the bank’s business according to their expertise.
“It’s not a model we have historically had, but I think it’s what modern firms need and what more complex spaces like financial services that have multiple segments and multiple product lines [need],” she said.
Maxus is also in BMO’s agency mix and has been handling the brand’s media on a contract basis since the spring, according to Rotenberg. “We’ve been contracting with them and are still in the contract phase, but we expect for them to take on our full business in Canada in the months to come,” she said.
Cossette previously handled the media for BMO, Prometheus handles it in the U.S. The agency changes follow Rotenberg’s promotion from senior vice-president of strategy to CMO in June.
Original story follows.
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The Bank of Montreal (BMO) has selected Young & Rubicam (Y&R) as its lead advertising agency, formally bringing its 12-year relationship with Cossette to a close.
Y&R’s Toronto, New York and Chicago offices will oversee the brand’s marketing, while the firm’s Y&R Midwest office will continue its existing relationship as the lead agency for BMO’s Chicago-based BMO Harris Bank brand.
“Leveraging Y&R’s ‘global boutique’ business structure, we will apply local knowledge and insights to interpret the BMO brand the right way for each market, while also ensuring consistency of brand architecture and voice across its geographic footprint in Canada and the U.S.” said Matt Anthony, president and CEO of Y&R North America, said in a statement.
Y&R will be one of several advertising partners for the brand moving forward, including KBS+, which announced Tuesday that it is now the agency of record for BMO’s wealth and management division.
In a statement, KBS+ CEO Lori Senecal said she was “inspired by BMO’s customer focus,” noting, “having grown up in Montreal, it’s a special thrill to be partnering with BMO as they continue to expand and grow globally.”
While KBS+ characterized the new business as an agency of record relationship, BMO has skirted that term with respects to Y&R, calling it instead its “agency of collaboration,” according to The Globe and Mail.
In September, Cossette CEO Brett Marchand confirmed to Marketing that the agency decided not to participate when BMO put its accounts in review, stating, “to pull the resources away from our current clients, to throw our new talents onto this, it just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do.”
BMO’s selection of Y&R and KBS+ comes during a major advertising shakeup across the financial industry in Canada. In September TD moved its account from DraftFCB to Leo Burnett, while CIBC began working with Juniper Park instead of its longtime agency partner Publicis.
With Royal Bank also in review, Scotiabank is the only one of Canada’s five big banks to retain a long-term relationship with its agency, Bensimon Byrne.
