Chuck chose CP&B.
The MDC Partners shop won a creative pitch for Charles Schwab's business that began last fall just as the company named a new chief marketing officer.
Jonathan Craig, a former AT&T executive who has served in a variety of marketing roles at Charles Schwab since 2000, was promoted to the position in September. He replaced Laurine Garrity, who had been a marketer at TD Ameritrade. Mr. Craig is responsible for U.S. and international marketing, including consumer research, content development and loyalty marketing.
He wasted little time re-examining the company's creative direction, launching a review quickly after he stepped into the role. It's safe to say he knows quite a bit about the brand; at one point, he served as chief of staff to Charles R. Schwab, founder and chairman of The Charles Schwab Corporation.
External View Consulting in California was the search firm guiding the pitch. The incumbent, Havas Worldwide is hanging onto the Active Trader and optionsXpress portions of the business.
"CP+B demonstrated a very strong understanding of our heritage, our target and our challenger brand history and philosophy," said Mr. Craig in a statement. "The work they developed delivered in a fashion that was true and credible to our voice, and we're looking forward to great things to come."
Havas Worldwide (formerly EuroRSCG) was responsible for launching the "Talk to Chuck" campaign Schwab launched to communicate to investors that the firm was there to listen to their money management concerns, and the push lasted even through the recession. The campaign has been in market since the fall of 2005, and different iterations have included the use of dialog balloons in print ads and TV spots that were shot using actors and then live-animated.
Whether that long-running campaign is now going to be scrapped remains to be seen.
According to Kantar, Charles Schwab Corp. spends about $120 million in U.S. measured media annually.