Discover has brought on TBWA\Chiat\Day LA as lead creative agency just 15 months after appointing Grey New York its creative agency-of-record. 

“TBWA\Chiat\Day has a history of creating work for distinguished brands that is unique, imaginative and breaks through the noise in the advertising landscape,” said Kate Manfred, senior VP and chief marketing officer at Discover, in a statement. She was promoted to the CMO role earlier this year. 

A spokesman at the financial services brand added that Grey continues to work across several lines of business at Discover, though the scope of the agency's agreement with the brand has changed.

In a statement, Grey said, "We’re very pleased our partnership with Discover continues across many lines of business."

The Discover spokesman did not elaborate on why Discover decided to switch lead agencies in such a short time frame. However, on a recent earnings call with analysts, company executives highlighted the need for more marketing this year following COVID-related changes.

“We intend to increase our marketing spend through the rest of this year,” said Roger Hochschild, CEO and president of Discover, on the call. He noted that the company has begun to see new spending trends in retail restaurants and that it expects “modest growth” this year as a result.

In its most recent quarter, Discover reduced its marketing expenses by 33%, or $77 million, compared to the year-earlier period, because of tightened credit criteria during COVID-19. Marketing spend has recently begun to pick back up though, according to John Greene, executive VP and chief financial officer.

“We accelerated our marketing spend late in the first quarter and plan to continue this through the year,” he said on the call with analysts. “These investments will drive new account acquisition and loan growth.”

For the quarter, Discover reported revenue of $2.8 billion, a 3% decline over the year-earlier period. However, net income, at $1.6 billion, greatly improved over last year’s $61 million loss.

New work from TBWA will debut later this year. The shop will work on strategic and creative development, social media marketing and production. Discover also works with 360i and Spark Media. The brand spent an estimated $87 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to research company Comvergence.

"Discover is a brand we all know and we believe is a brand that we all can love,” said Erin Riley, president of TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, in a statement. She noted that the brand has a history of putting “customers first” and how relevant such a strategy is today.  

Before the five-month review that led the Riverwoods, Illinois-based Discover to Grey, the financial services brand had worked with The Martin Agency. In late 2019, Martin resigned the account following a 13-year-old relationship.

Last month, TBWA named Nancy Reyes CEO. In recent months, the agency's New York office has won new work for PepsiCo’s Bubly and Rise energy drink as well as Frito-Lay’s Lays and Facebook’s Oculus. The LA office has won work from clients including Behr Paint, Moderna and Schwan Food Co.'s Freschetta, Red Baron and Tony's Pizza.