HSBC has confirmed that it has not awarded its £400m global creative account to Saatchi & Saatchi, following rumours to the contrary issued in a press release from Saatchi & Saatchi this week.
The story claimed that WPP-owned J. Walter Thompson had lost its biggest creative account to the Publicis Groupe network which is also on the banking brand’s roster.
A statement from the HSBC has been issued to clarify the situation, and states that no creative tasks have been re-assigned. It suggests that the misunderstanding may have arisen following a strategy-only brief that was sent out to both JWT and Saatchi & Saatchi.
The full statement reads as follows:
Following recent speculation HSBC would like to clarify the position regarding our advertising agency roster arrangements.
JWT remain valued partners on our global roster of agencies, leading our efforts in retail banking across key regions and geographies. They have recently been awarded assignments for two of our key UK sponsorship properties, British Cycling and the Wimbledon AELTC partnerships.
In 2016, HSBC conducted an exploratory project to look at the future direction of our overall brand strategy and asked two of our incumbent agencies, Saatchi and Saatchi and JWT, to look at a strategy-only brief. Saatchi and Saatchi were asked to develop their proposal further.
In addition, WPP remain a key partner for HSBC globally. HSBC has not moved any creative assignments from their current agencies.