• by David Kaplan , January 4, 2005

ING Direct has named Horizon Media to handle the online banking company's estimated $50 million media buying and planning duties, sources said Monday.

Representatives for ING Direct and Horizon were unavailable for comment. Publicis Groupe's Bartle Bogle Hegarty had previously handled media for the online banker, sources said.

Last June, the Wilmington, Del.-based ING Direct severed its creative relationship with BBH after two years. ING Direct decided to drop BBH when it chose to weigh its marketing efforts more heavily in the direct response area. That advertising continues to be run by Interpublic Group's Gillespie, which is based in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Incidentally, ING Direct has completely separate business and marketing operations from its financial services firm sibling ING. The latter is unaffected by the change in media duties at ING Direct.

Horizon Media, based in New York, bills itself as the largest independent media shop, with over $1 billion in billings.