Y&R grabs 7m Tandy business

Electrical retailer Tandy has appointed Young & Rubicam to handle its 7m creative and media advertising account in the UK.

Y&R beat incumbent McCann- Erickson Central and Cogent to the account.

Tandy marketing director Andrew Fryatt says Y&R was chosen because it “combined strong planning and analysis of the market and business environment”.

Y&R chief executive Toby Hoare says one of the agency’s main objectives for this year was to win a major retailer. He says: “Though Tandy won’t match Dixons’ and Comet’s enormous ad spend, our strategy will be to out-think, rather than out-spend them.”

Fryatt says: “Advertising in the electrical retail market is heavily focused on product price ads. Our competitors such as Dixons, Comet and Radio Rentals are heavily promoting and we need to respond.” The campaign will mainly target those who are not technology-oriented.

“Y&R’s advertising will focus on the range of products we carry, compared with our competitors who have much narrower ranges,” says Fryatt.

He claims Tandy is substantially increasing its above-the-line advertising spend in response.

Tandy’s margins have been eroded by fierce competition from the likes of Dixons, which sells big name brands at discounted prices. Tandy’s philosophy has been to switch to promoting private-label RadioShack – Tandy’s parent – products at higher margins (MW November 24 1995).

The UK stores have been revamped in the past six months as part of Tandy’s strategy of competing through its product range and customer service, rather than on price.