Bank Hapoalim is going to transfer its advertising budget to the Gitam BBDO agency in January 1999. The bank confirmed this report. Bank Hapoalim’s budget is the largest in the banking system. It stood at $7.5 million in 1998, and it is estimated that 1999’s budget will be $10 million. In the first half of 1998, the bank spent $4.8 million on advertising.
The Kesher-Barel advertising agency, which has held Bank Hapoalim’s budget for eleven years, is currently negotiating with the Bank Hapoalim group’s management. Negotiations are over transferring the group’s other fields of activity, such as Bank Mishkan, Isracard, Mastercard, American Express, mutual funds, and Poalim Foreign, whose overall advertising volume is $5 million, and whose advertising is dealt with by various agencies.
Reuveni-Pridan holds the Mastercard and Isracard accounts; Shalmon-Avnon-Amichai has the American Express account, and Adler-Homsky holds the group’s mutual funds account.
In response, the bank confirmed it is exploring possibilities of cooperation with Kesher-Barel within the Bank Hapoalim group. The bank apparently fears a total break from its Kesher-Barel, and the anticipated consequences from the agency’s future connections with competitors in the banking system, and will therefore make every effort to retain the agency within the Bank Hapoalim group.
Gitam BBDO, which handles the account of Israel Credit Cards Visa, controlled by Bank Leumi, will be forced to part ways from this budget, because of a conflict of interests which will be created versus Bank Hapoalim’s budget. Estimates are that the ICC Visa budget, worth $5 million, will be forwarded to Kesher-Barel.
Bank Hapoalim sources say that as part of the bank’s reorganization on the subject of establishing marketing and advertising staff, it was decided on a change of advertising agency, despite great satisfaction from Kesher-Barel’s contribution to the bank’s image change over this past year. Gitam BBDO, sources explain, has a wide scale publicity network, essential to the bank in light of changes the banking system is undergoing.
Published by Israel's Business Arena July 21, 1998.