MasterCard Launches Media Review

MasterCard’s new chief marketing officer Raja Rajamannar (pictured) has launched a global media agency review, after joining the company in September.The financial services company's lead media agency is Interpublic Group's Universal McCann.Sources put global spending at more than US$200 million. In the U.S. alone last year, MasterCard spent nearly US$105 million in media, according to Nielsen. (That amount does not include Internet spending or business-to-business marketing.)A MasterCard representative issued a statement:“As part of regular business practices, MasterCard regularly reviews and assesses industry resources as part of responsible vendor and agency management,” the company said. “We can confirm that MasterCard is conducting a review of our media agency partners. This activity is limited only to the media buying activities and not to any other agency relationship.”The MasterCard rep would not identify which other agencies are incumbents in the review but said UM was invited to participate in the process: "(We) look forward to working with them through this effort."A UM spokesperson said the agency will defend the business.The company added that McCann XBC (ExtraBoldCondensed), a new unit created late last year for MasterCard, will continue to work for the brand. Joyce King Thomas, the former creative chief of McCann Erickson New York and co-creator of MasterCard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign, returned to the agency to run XBC in December.Article by Adweek