WAMU Hires TBWA/Chiat Day
October 17, 2007
Washington Mutual has hired TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif., as its lead agency on its $173 million-plus ad account taking out incumbent Leo Burnett. The Chicago based agency has had the account since 2005 during which time they created a series of quirky ads potraying WaMu as a “modern” bank. Not what the shop needs now since WaMu has taken a serious hit from the recent mortgage meltdown surging through the US. Their earnings, which are to be released today, are expected to report write-downs of nearly $1 billion, as well as coming in at a 75% lower net income figure. Hell… they’re trading at 26 cents a share last time we checked.
Meanwhile, Burnett recently picked up the Buick and GMC business replacing Cadillac, which bounced to Modernista!. So, if they can hold on to Samsung, they should be able to shoulder through this loss, as presidents Rich Stoddart and Juan Carlos Ortiz continue to iron out the kinks.
