Bank of Ireland has narrowed the search for an agency for its creative account to four agencies – F&B Huskies, Boys+Girls, Folk Wunderman Thompson and the incumbent, Grey Consulting.
The pitch process, which is one of the biggest creative pitches of 2023, is being managed by Agency Assessments, and a final decision is expected by the end of July.
Grey Consulting, which is part of the WPP-owned Grey Advertising, has been the lead creative agency on the account for the past three years.
The media account, which moved to OMD from dentsu in March and the below-the-line account, which is handled by in-house specialists Oliver, are not impacted by the current pitch. However, it is understood that Grey may still continue to work with the bank in some capacity in the future, irrespective of which agency wins the current creative pitch.
Over the past few years, Bank of Ireland has rolled out a number of high-profile campaigns at a time of profound change in the financial services market in Ireland. The exit of two banks from the Irish market – Ulster Bank and KBC Bank- has also led to a consolidation of the sector and intense competition between the existing players, including rivals AIB and permanent tsb, to win new customers from the departing banks.
