Commercial General Union, the insurance brand formed by the merger
of Commercial Union and General Accident, has put its multi-million
pound creative account up for pitch three months after making Publicis
its sole agency.
Publicis, the incumbent on the General Accident account, won the
company’s pounds 7 million rebranding campaign in September. At the
time, however, CGU insisted it would review its agency arrangement once
that campaign was over.
The review is being led by Nick Hall, CGU’s director of strategic
marketing, who has already contacted a number of London agencies.
Publicis is expected to repitch for the business, as is Duckworth Finn
Grubb Waters, which was the incumbent on the Commercial Union business.
Media, which is handled by CIA Medianetwork, is unaffected by the
review.
A CGU spokesman confirmed that Hall was speaking to agencies about the
business: ’Publicis won the pitch for the launch advertising but we made
it clear at the time of its appointment that there would be a second
pitch early in 1999 for our ongoing advertising. That is still the plan
and we are looking to begin that process.’
