Schwab Consolidates Media Planning and Buying Duties With PHD USA SAN FRANCISCO, May 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Charles Schwab Corporation today announced the consolidation of its media planning and buying assignments with PHD USA. Schwab completed a formal review which included incumbents PHD and RPA, and Havas, Inc.'s MPG. PHD has held media planning responsibilities for all of the company's offline advertising, and managed print and out-of-home media buying since 1997. PHD will assume additional responsibilities previously shared with two other agencies: RPA of Santa Monica, which has held broadcast media buying responsibilities for Schwab since 1990, and KP Media of San Jose, which has managed online planning and buying since 1997. "We see a clear opportunity to consolidate our planning and buying to integrate more strategically and effectively across Schwab's businesses and with our creative agencies," said Becky Saeger, Schwab's Chief Marketing Officer. "Consolidation of these responsibilities will allow us to encourage innovation in the continually changing media landscape, streamline operations, and operate most flexibly and efficiently. PHD will be a terrific partner." "We value our long-standing partnerships with both RPA and KP Media," said Mike Naughton, Schwab's vice president of media. "Both agencies have provided us with outstanding service, creativity and counsel through a tremendous period of growth in Schwab's history. But in order to optimize the integration of media with marketing strategy and execution, we consolidated these functions with one agency." PHD's responsibilities will including media planning and buying for Schwab's brokerage subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., as well as for its Charles Schwab Bank, Cybertrader and U.S. Trust subsidiaries. "We are very excited and pleased that Charles Schwab has appointed PHD as their full service media partner," said Steve Grubbs, CEO of PHD North America. "It will enable us to impact Schwab's business growth through complete strategic integration of online and offline communications. We are thrilled that Schwab has acknowledged the fine work of our PHD San Francisco team and entrusted PHD USA with their consolidated media responsibilities." PHD is a leading global media agency that offers full service media planning and buying capabilities. PHD is part of Omnicom Media Group, the media division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC). Omnicom is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. About Charles Schwab The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE / Nasdaq: SCH), through its operating subsidiaries, provides securities brokerage and financial services to individual investors and the independent investment advisors who work with them. With over 7 million individual investor accounts and more than $1 trillion in client assets, The Charles Schwab Corporation is one of the nation's largest financial services firms. Its subsidiary Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC) provides a complete range of investment services and products, including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plans; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent fee-based investment advisors. Its subsidiary Charles Schwab Bank, N.A. (member FDIC) provides banking and mortgage services and products. The Corporation's other operating subsidiaries include U.S. Trust Corporation (member FDIC) and CyberTrader(R), Inc. (member SIPC). These companies' Web sites can be reached at http://www.schwab.com/, http://www.schwabbank.com/, http://www.ustrust.com/, and http://www.cybertrader.com/. DATASOURCE: Charles Schwab CONTACT: Glen Mathison of Charles Schwab, +1-415-636-5448, or Web site: http://www.schwab.com/

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