The Nationwide Building Society has secretly handed back its pounds
8 million television account to Leagas Delaney, nearly five years after
the agency resigned the award-winning business in an acrimonious
divorce.
The surprise move comes just nine months after Nationwide split with its
former shop, GGT, insisting that it no longer needed a full-service
agency. Since then, it has been running old GGT television spots and
print work through the Swindon shop, Emery McLaven Orr.
The building society is understood to have affected a rapprochement with
Leagas Delaney three months ago.
Nationwide approached the agency because of the success of its old
campaign, last on air in 1993. The ads included one spot featuring
live-action, stop-gap animation showing the different houses people live
in and the line: ’The nation’s building society.’
Leagas Delaney has been working on new commercials with an airdate
scheduled for the new year. However, the strategy will pick up where the
old work left off in 1993 and will appear with previous commercials to
ensure continuity.
The new spots will also be directed by Mike Stephenson at the Paul
Weiland Film Company, who also directed the original ads.
The drive has been refreshed to emphasise Nationwide’s increasingly
unique position in the financial services market. It remains one of the
largest building societies with mutual status after the recent round of
flotations and the work will concentrate on the added value the company
can offer because it does not have shareholders.
No-one at Leagas Delaney or Nationwide was available for comment as
Campaign went to press.
Leagas Delaney first worked on the account in 1985, spawning an
eight-year relationship that pulled in many awards.The agency resigned
in anger when changes in the company’s management triggered a
review.
The account’s three-year tenure at GGT began with a controversial
campaign created with help from the building society’s employees.
Nationwide decided not to renew its contract in January. Media buying on
the account will remain with Media Solutions, GGT’s joint venture with
CIA Group.
