OMD wins Royal Mail account

OMD UK has won Royal Mail’s 18m media planning and buying following a two-way shoot-out against incumbent Carat. The Omnicom agency will handle all media planning and buying for the Royal Mail for the next four years…

OMD UK has won Royal Mail’s £18m media planning and buying following a two-way shoot-out against incumbent Carat. The Omnicom agency will handle all media planning and buying for the Royal Mail for the next four years.

Carat, part of the Aegis network, had held the account for 10 years and was has previously been reported to have retained the account. MediaCom and PHD were knocked out of the pitch at an earlier stage.

Royal Mail has also retained Proximity to handle its direct marketing and added data planning to its responsibilities. Both OMD and Proximity will work with its advertising agency, Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO.

A review was expected to be called in 2005 but Royal Mail extended Carat’s contract by a year. It then called a statutory review through the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) late last year.