McCann retains 5m Magnet

Magnet, the kitchen retailer and builders’ merchant, has re-appointed McCann-Erickson Manchester to handle its 5m advertising account, after a pitch against Advertising Principles and MAP.

New creative work, including a national TV campaign, will be launched to tie in with the July sales, and will seek to push a price message as well as build Magnet’s brand values.

The company put the account up for pitch in April after appointing marketing director Ken Partington, who held the same post at paint manufacturer Kalon.

Partington was critical of McCann’s creative work for the January sales. The agency had held the account for five years. “We weren’t getting the best in the creative sense from McCann. I veered towards smaller agencies because they’ve got a personal touch, but in the pitch McCann knocked our socks off with its new creative work,” he says.

Magnet fell victim to the recession, and was bought out by its management for 600m. It was sold in March last year to industrial conglomerate Berisford, which restructured the business and appointed Partington.