BBDO Canada will take over RBC Financial Group’s national English advertising, effective Jan. 1. According to its annual report, RBC spent a total of $211 million on marketing, including media and PR, in 2002, a 17% increase over 2001.

Spokesperson Beja Rodeck says the firm initiated the review because it was time for a new advertising platform that reflected RBC’s new brand. In 2001, Royal Bank of Canada announced the letters ‘RBC’ as its master corporate brand, as a means to better represent its expansion into the U.S. and other international markets.

Gerry Frascione, president and CEO of BBDO Canada, which has offices in Montreal and Toronto, says the agency’s creative idea for the campaign has the breadth to address the financial company’s multiple platform business, which includes banking, insurance and capital investment.

RBC selected the agency from a shortlist that included J. Walter Thompson, TBWAToronto, Grey Worldwide and Doner, which withdrew during the process. Incumbent agency Toronto-based MacLaren McCann will continue to handle sponsorship marketing, branding design and merchandising, and M2 Universal continues as the media AOR. The media spend is estimated at just under $30 million.