Kinetic holds on to BA outdoor poster account

Outdoor poster buying specialist Kinetic has retained the British Airways business following an audit.

The contract means the poster specialist will book BA’s outdoor advertising, including digital billboards, for the next two years. BA spends about £23m a year on advertising, which is created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty and planned by ZenithOptimedia.

Kinetic handles outdoor buying for WPP agencies MindShare and Mediaedge: cia. The poster specialist has been growing in importance internationally, having recently launched a mobile advertising unit as well as securing several key contracts – including Sony Malaysia’s out-of-home media activity.

BA is currently running a digital campaign for its London to New York route, on JC Decaux’s PrimeTime billboards across London. Virgin Atlantic, BA’s main rival, launched an ad campaign in Heathrow Terminal 5 on March 27 promoting the “relative speed” of its check-in service. The terminal was built to fly BA-only flights but has been heavily criticised since it opened at the end of March. BAA and JC Decaux have invested £25m in Terminal 5’s digital technology.

Kinetic, which was created from the merger of Portland and Poster Publicity, is part of a highly-competitive sector running against Posterscope and IPM. It won software giant Apple’s business from Posterscope in January this year, which is worth about £3.6m.