3 agencies tipped to be shortlisted for OCBC media account

Vizeum Singapore, Havas Media Singapore and incumbent Wavemaker Singapore are tipped to be shortlisted in OCBC Bank’s media pitch, Marketing understands. The move follows a recent media pitch called last month, which also involves the brand’s subsidiary, Bank of Singapore.OCBC Bank was not able to disclose the shortlisted agencies when contacted by Marketing.It last appointed Maxus, which underwent a merger with MEC to form Wavemaker, as its media agency of record for its consumer banking services. Meanwhile, the incumbent on the Bank of Singapore account is Carat, which previously held both the OCBC and Bank of Singapore accounts for eight years.In a previous statement to Marketing, Koh Ching Ching, head of group corporate communications, OCBC Bank, said that new digital solutions in media targeting and buying has given the bank the ability to communicate in innovative ways with highly targeted segments of our customers. As such, this has redefined the role of the media agency of the future.“We therefore found it timely to explore how agencies can offer us sharper digital media capabilities, so we can keep applying fresh ideas to entities across the OCBC Group, including Bank of Singapore,” Koh said at the time.The bank in recent years has been bolstering its digital and technological capabilities. Most recently, it launched artificial intelligence (AI) powered voice banking in collaboration with Google, following the launch of Google Home and Google Home Mini in Singapore. This allows consumers to speak to the Google Assistant on a smartphone or a Google Home device to initiate a conversation about the bank’s service offerings. In February this year, it launched a digital innovation using Siri, Apple’s virtual assistance.