MARC Advertising, Pittsburgh, was named agency of record for Mellon Financial Corp., New York, which owns Mellon Bank, Dreyfus Corp. and New Management Ltd., London. MARC will provide all integrated marketing communications for Mellon, including corporate advertising, direct mail, online marketing, sports promotions and community relations. The Mellon account was formerly handled by Bozell Kanstra, New York, an agency unit of True North Communications, Chicago.
MARC Advertising spokesman Lee Brody said the account was moved from Bozell Kanstra in large part because the client was looking for more of a one-stop shop. And a spokesman at Mellon confirmed that the financial services company was searching for a change. “We were looking for an agency with a range of capabilities under one roof,” he said. “MARC is an agency that has the scope we want. It’s a logical match.”
Brody said Mellon is expected to launch a number of key direct marketing efforts in February. However, he declined to detail the exact nature of the agency’s planning for Mellon, saying only that the direct marketing will include “a number of mailings along with a variety of efforts along other avenues.” He said Mellon’s agency spending for 1998 was about $11.8 million and that he expected the number to hold true for 1999 billings.
Ed Fine, chief creative officer for MARC, said the agency was still being briefed by Mellon, “getting to know the people there and learning how things operate [within Mellon]. Fine said that process would “continue for the next 15 to 30 days followed by the roll out of a series of campaigns over the next year – each focused on specific products.” He said there would be all kinds of media formats used to market the Mellon message, but the majority would include direct marketing communications and newspaper advertising. He said MARC was still determining how much it will increase its staff to accommodate Mellon.
