Axis Bank's creative duties now with Lowe Lintas

Meridian, Ogilvy's sister concern, handled the creative duties earlier. Lowe Lintas has set up a specialist arm to handle the brand

Axis Bank has changed its creative partner. From Ogilvy's sister concern, Meridian, the creative duties have moved to Lowe Lintas. Allegedly, no pitch process was involved.

Axis Bank's creative duties now with Lowe Lintas

Charles Cadell, chief executive officer, Lowe Lintas, confirms the news to afaqs!. "A specialist arm called LinFinance has been formed to handle this account," he says. The arm was formed about five months ago, and Axis Bank is the first client to be handled by this vertical. LinFinance, as the name suggests, is Lowe Lintas' special division created to exclusively handle financial brands.

According to informed sources, the annual ad spends of the bank is approximately Rs 40 crore. The media mix will be led by television.

Two years ago, UTI Bank was officially re-named Axis Bank. A major re-branding activity was carried out pan India by its then agency, Meridian (which has been handling the brand till now).

The new avatar was conveyed with a campaign about twins: images of twins (or identical looking objects) emphasised that 'Nothing has changed except the name' for the brand. Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director, Ogilvy India, had created the TV commercials for the campaign. Outdoor and television were heavily used.

The media duties remain unchanged: Madison Media continues to handle the media duties for the bank, affirms Sam Balsara, chairperson and managing director, Madison World.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com