Finance firm the Leeds Building Society has named independent creative agency Join as its new lead creative partner, following a competitive pitch process.

Havin recently produced several popular campaigns for Amazon Business, the London-based agency will now be tasked with overseeing the building society’s brand development, creative strategy and campaign delivery.

Working across both consumer and B2B channels, Joint will look to expand upon the brand’s “It’s better to belong” creative platform, created by incumbent outfit Brave Spark.

“We chose to ask the agencies participating in the pitch process to take part in a collaborative workshop over the space of a day. In doing so, we were looking to get a real sense of how each team thinks, works, and solves problems in real time,” said Beccy Dye, head of brand at the Leeds Building Society.

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“Following this process, we are pleased to have chosen Joint as our lead creative partner. Joint demonstrated exceptional strategic thinking, a clear understanding of our brand, and great collaborative energy that stood out from the start.”

According to Campaign, MSQ-owned Brave Spark opted not to re-pitch for the account, having worked with the Leeds Building Society for the past two years. The pitch process was handled by Ingenuity+.

Lou Fielding, MD of Joint, added: “We are so thrilled to be working with Leeds Building Society. It’s a business with a rock solid purpose and we love the team’s ambition for where the brand can go.

“Hats off to them and Ingenuity+ for running such a refreshingly different pitch process. Having the chance to show how we think, how we work and how we collaborate in a live workshop was a brilliant experience.”