2m Energis buying brief for Optimedia

Vauxhall: ITV has raised nearly 3m from its sponsorship of Euro 9Optimedia has won the 2.5m media buying business for the National Grid’s ailing telecoms company, Energis.

The advertising breaks this week with a campaign created by M&C Saatchi, which picked up the account in March. Optimedia pitched with M&C for the business.

The account was formerly with John Ayling & Associates, but has been largely dormant since Energis’ launch campaign in November 1994.

The company is believed to have lost in the region of 100m since the launch and is now following a new marketing strategy.

The new campaign is targeting business users and upmarket consumers with full-page ads in broadsheet national newspapers. Media spend is expected to grow as the campaign progresses.

The marketing and advertising push is the work of Energis’ new management team, chief executive Mike Grabiner, former director of European operations at BT, and Mercury’s former marketing director Irene Cackett.