Jan 3, 2008 6:05 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Patricia Odell

MasterCard Worldwide has named TracyLocke as its agency of record for U.S. national promotions.

The agency will create a series of integrated concepts for the 2008 summer and holiday seasons. The campaigns are expected to tap into the latest technologies and play off MasterCard’s successful 10-year-old “Priceless” platform targeting affluent consumers.

“The communications message will be leveraged and integrated in all media, and the technologies we are looking at leveraging will make good use of entertainment and experiential formats,” Soche Picard, the client services director on the MasterCard business, said yesterday.

The agency has already begun staffing up to handle the new account.

“We’re still getting a true sense of what the full on work will be throughout this year and beyond so we’ll be bringing in additional staff as well,” said Beth Ann Kaminkow, the president and chief talent officer at TracyLocke.

Estimated billings were not disclosed.

MasterCard had worked with a number of promotional agencies, but with the hiring of TracyLocke has consolidated that work under one agency. TracyLocke’s Wilton, CT, office is handling the business.

“A huge piece of MasterCard’s [marketing] success is making sure it’s not just an ad campaign, but that everything they do from a consumer and B-to-B communications standpoint is within the Priceless format and we will continue to maintain that practice,” Picard said.

MasterCard spent $345.6 million on advertising in 2006 and $201.6 million through September 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

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