EST U-turns by inviting COI to conduct review
The Energy Saving Trust (EST) is reviewing its advertising and media buying for the Energy Efficiency brand.
The review is being handled by COI Communications, which recently drew up an agency roster.
The EST originally invited agencies to tender for the business independently of the Central Office of Information (COI), by posting a note on the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC) website. This is to be withdrawn in the next few days, after the EST blamed an “administrative error”.
The use of the COI roster by government-funded bodies is a sensitive issue following the Department of Transport, Local Government and Regions’ decision to draw up its own agency roster and bypass the COI list.
Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/ Y&R and The Media Edge are the incumbents. The agencies were appointed in March 1999, and the latest work ran on TV and radio and in the press in support of “Energy Efficiency Week” in October.
The EST spent £203,000 on two campaigns from October to September 2001 (AC Nielsen) and is waiting for next year’s budget to be set.
The trust is an independent, government-funded body set up in 1993 following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. It has a brief to lower carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as a means of combatting global warming. The Energy Efficiency brand promotes carbon dioxide emission reduction in the home by highlighting energy wastage.
The agencies that work on direct marketing for Energy Efficiency are to also be reviewed.
