Visa appoints Wieden+Kennedy and Publicis Groupe to ‘creative oversight’ of its $200m global business
After a post-lockdown global creative review which kicked off in July, Visa has appointed Wieden+Kennedy as its new creative agency, taking over the major $200m prize from long standing agency BBDO.
Publicis Groupe holds on to a chunk of the account, continuing to lead the global media through Starcom, which has been Visa’s media agency since 2015.
The group has also expanded its Visa remit by taking on production duties and providing creative support for ‘hyper local’ work through Saatchi & Saatchi, which already worked on creative in Europe, and just created a “Where you shop matters” 2020 Christmas spot for the brand.
Lynne Biggar, chief marketing and communications officer at Visa, said: “Our new normal requires a new agency model for best-in-class creative and global execution… Accelerating business for and with our customers means we’re always innovating and pushing forward – exploring new ways to meet evolving needs to achieve impactful outcomes.”
Like all businesses, Visa is going through a lot of changes this year, as the cashless society takes hold, but its payment deals and sponsorship for big events like the Olympics has taken a hit. Interesting that Visa has not put the entire account into one holding company – it must have been under a lot of pressure from various groups in the pitch to do just that.
Biggar added: “Our brand and business ambitions warrant having Wieden+Kennedy and Publicis Groupe partner together to expand our brand platform by combining both best-in-class creative and global execution expertise.”
