NatWest, the RBS-owned banking brand, has shifted its 2020 ad activity out of longstanding incumbent M&C Saatchi and into The & Partnership London following a competitive review.
The & Partnership pitched against M&C and fellow RBS roster agency Karmarama to pick up the brief, which is for NatWest’s 2020 campaign. RBS stressed that M&C remained NatWest's agency of record.
David Wheldon, chief marketing officer at RBS, said: "After a short process where we have engaged our roster agencies on the NatWest brief for 2020, we can confirm that we will be partnering with The & Partnership London on the delivery of this campaign. This has not been a process to change our agency of record, but rather part of us continuing to look at how we work with our partners to deliver standout work for NatWest."
Last month M&C created "Freddie v Freddie" – a spot featuring former England cricketer Freddie Flintoff batting against his greatest ever bowls.
The loss comes in the same week that M&C Saatchi PLC announced it will take a £6.4m hit to its financial performance following an internal accounting review of several of the company’s UK subsidiaries that found "instances of misapplication of accounting policies".
