The account, covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was formerly held by Saatchi & Saatchi, which repitched for the work, and Tequila. Grey won the work after a joint pitch between Grey Worldwide London and Joshua, the Grey London below-the-line agency. BBDO, the US incumbent, was also on the list.
Visa International called the review in October last year to consolidate the account into a single agency network and seek greater consistency in quality of client service, ideas and implementation across the region.
The account will be run from London and is expected to run across all media, including television.
The win follows Grey London picking up the 拢10m Dairy Crest brief, and arrives at a time when the agency is about to wind up a consultation instigated by new chief executive Garry Lace. In an effort to make the agency more profitable, it may make as many as 50 staff redundant.
Lace was on the team that pitched for the Visa account, along with Mitch Levy of Joshua, and representatives from Grey's offices in South Africa, the Middle East and Central Europe.
Alex Craddock, vice-president and head of marketing for Visa International CEMEA, said: "Our goal is to maintain brand leadership and increase retail sales volume. We've been searching for an agency that can deliver a great, integrated campaign, a strong brand idea, and a network that works well together with excellent regional and London leadership. Grey delivers on all three."
The pitch was run by AAR, after a statutory review. Media remains with Mediaedge:cia and the review does not affect Saatchi & Saatchi's work on the Visa International account in EU territories.
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