Mudra and R K Swamy BBDO part of Allahabad Bank's roster

Following a multi-agency pitch process, the bank's revised roster comprises nine agencies.

Allahabad Bank, a Government of India undertaking, has empanelled nine creative agencies. They are Mudra Kolkata, R K Swamy BBDO Kolkata, Indo Aryan Publicity, Sobhagya Advertising, Magnum Intergrafiks, Crayons Advertising, Ad Syndicate, Inter Publicity and National Advertising Agency.

Once every two years, the bank reviews its existing creative roster and a full-fledged pitch process takes place. The current development is the result of one such evaluation. The pitch took place in Kolkata, where Allahabad Bank has been headquartered since 1923.

afaqs! learns that a total of 35 agencies participated in the pitch. The selected nine will be in charge of the brand's creative and media duties for the next two years.

The bank's previous roster, as reported by afaqs! in December 2010, also comprised nine agencies. These included Indo Aryan Publicity, Sobhagya Advertising, Inter Publicity, R K Swamy BBDO, National Advertising Agency, Mudra Communications, Concept Communication, Magnum Intergrafiks and Surya Adsystems.

It is noteworthy that of these previous nine, seven have retained the account and have managed to defend their respective places on the bank's roster. The ones that didn't make it are Concept Communication and Surya Adsystems. They have been replaced by Crayons Advertising and Ad Syndicate.

For the record, Allahabad Bank was founded back in 1865 and was nationalised in 1969. Besides numerous branches across the length and breadth of India, the bank has one overseas branch at Hong Kong and a representative office at Shenzhen, China.