Canadian Bank CIBC selects NFA’s Courage as its lead creative agency
Account marks first significant win for shop founded by former Rethink executives.
Aliver
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, one of Canada’s largest banks, has named No Fixed Address’s Courage to lead creative strategy, according to a statement by the bank. This is a significant win for the Toronto-based agency that was founded earlier this year by former Rethink execs Dhaval Bhatt, Joel Holtby, and Niki Sahni.
CIBC has also brought on Oliver, an agency that helps companies build and run bespoke in-house agencies, as its “implementation” agency of record for production efforts. The decision was made following a creative review conducted by consultancy Listen & More. The review is believed to have included five shops ranging from major holding company agencies to U.S. independent agencies.
“Over the past year, our focus has been on modernizing how we bring the CIBC brand and our purpose to life,” Tammy Sadinsky, senior VP, brand and marketing at CIBC, said in a statement. “As we begin this new chapter for our brand, we are excited to partner with Courage and Oliver, two globally recognized agencies, who share our strategic and creative vision and will help take our brand to the next level with execution excellence.”
This is the latest marketing change for the Toronto-based bank. In September 2021, CIBC introduced a new brand identity, created by New York design agency Lippincott, and a new brand platform, “Ambitions Made Real,” which was created by its former creative agency Juniper/TBWA. Earlier this week, the financial institution launched its latest campaign from that agency as part of the brand platform focused on its “CIBC Smart Advice” offering.
No Fixed Address backs a number of other agencies, including Mischief, which has been one of the hottest agencies over the past year. It launched notable work for EOS and Coors Light recently and picked up AOR accounts for Tinder, Fanduel Casino and Shutterfly.
Although the company does advertise in the U.S., most of CIBC’s advertising is in Canada, where it spent $27 million last year, with $9 million attributed to digital, according to estimates from COMvergence.
