Morgan Stanley appoints Millward Brown to track Goldfish brand

LONDON - Morgan Stanley has appointed WPP's Millward Brown to conduct research and brand tracking for the relaunch of its Goldfish credit card.

In addition, the consumer banking group has appointed Grey London to handle its 拢25m advertising and DM account.

The appointment settles the US financial services company's UK marketing arrangements after a period of upheaval, which peaked last year with the departure of chief executive Phillip Purcell and chief marketing officer Phil Raskin.

This led Leo Burnett to resign the company's global advertising account after 17 years in August. The ensuing review was prolonged by Morgan Stanley's acquisition of the Goldfish credit card business from Lloyds TSB, which has doubled its number of credit card customers. The acquisition has just been cleared by the Office of Fair Trading.

The consolidation brings an end to Morgan Stanley's relationship with Tequila\London, which handled the 拢20m below-the-line business.

Patrick Muir, marketing director for Morgan Stanley's UK consumer banking group, said: "We are highly confident that we have assembled a team with exactly the right expertise and experience to successfully relaunch the Goldfish brand and to further build the profile of the Morgan Stanley credit card."

Morgan Stanley is seeking to develop affinity partnerships in order to grow its card business.

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