By Fiona Ramsay, marketingmagazine.co.uk, 23 March 2009, 5:33pm

Capital One ditches Zed for digital marketing push

LONDON - Capital One has ditched its direct mail model to make digital a key part of its marketing strategy, appointing Efficient Frontier to manage its paid search activity.

Having been the UK's the top mailer five years ago, the credit card and savings company has cut back on direct in favour of digital marketing.

It is making paid search a priority, moving its online business from Zed Media to Efficient Frontier.

Capital One already moved its £7 million online media planning and buying out of Publicis Groupe's Zed and into sister agency Starcom MediaVest. MediaVest already handles Capital One's offline media planning and buying.

Justin Basini, head of brand marketing, Capital One said: ‘This decision follows a review of our digital media model. We are looking forward to working with Efficient Frontier to fine tune our understanding and effectiveness in search.'