Noseweek (link) has suggested that personal relationships played a role in FNB’s recent agency account move that awarded part of the contract to The Jupiter Drawing Room owned MetropolitanRepublic. [See the story on Fin24 and more reaction at Politicsweb]. MarkLives requested some clarification from FNB and received the following statement:
“The re-tender for our advertising accounts was driven by a clear need expressed by executives across the bank to revitalize our above-the-line media presence.
In doing this, we set out to achieve very clear benefits for the bank and made our agency selections on that basis.
The selection process was closely governed by our audit committee to ensure that the process was fair and thorough.
The bank’s executives further ensured the evaluation of the four short-listed agencies provided a sound platform from which the contracts could be concluded.
The appointments were compliant with our corporate governance requirements that are applied during every procurement decision.”
Virginia Magapatona
Head of Corporate Communications