MFB has selected Berg Media, which has a mere HUF 3 million in registered capital, in a state procurement method called “accelerated negotiations”, a procedure that is only acceptable by the procurement law in the case of “special urgency”. The bank said it had to find a new agency fast when the previous year’s advertising budget was about to be used up entirely. In the tender, Mindshare Media Agency Kft. was the only competitor of Berg Media.

Berg Media plans to use ESMA Spanish-Hungarian Advertising Kft. as a subcontractor accounting for more than 10% of the total value of the contract. ESMA is believed to be owned by people with close connections to the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP).

Berg Media has recently won a number of government tenders, and currently works for the IT and Telecom Ministry, the National Development Office and the Hungarian Tourism Rt.