Visa concludes global media pitch

Visa has appointed its global media duties to Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG). This markets in APAC.Previously OMD handled Visa’s media buying duties in Asia. The account was handed to the agency following a review in 2008 along with Latin America and several parts of Europe.According to a spokesperson from Visa told Marketing, the review is part of its "regular business practice" and Visa consistently evaluates how it does business.""As such, conducted a global media agency review to ensure we have the right mix of support to meet our brand and marketing goals.  We just concluded our review and have awarded Starcom the position of global media agency of record supported by Social Code for digital in North America.  In addition, we awarded Essence the complementary position to support our programmatic efforts on a project and regional basis,” he added.The pitch was called in April shortly after Visa’s brand chief Antonio Lucio left to take on the role of CMO at Hewlett Packard. Lucio had been in charge of Visa’s branding activities for over eight years.