O&M grabs 5m Hoover account

Ogilvy & Mather has won the 5m pan-European advertising account for domestic appliances manufacturer Hoover.

O&M pitched against J Walter Thompson for the above-the-line account, which was resigned by Leo Burnett in July. Hoover says Young & Rubicam lost out in the final stages “by mutual consent”.

The account will cover the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Portugal. Leo Burnett also previously held the business in all six countries.

Tom Bury, chief executive officer and deputy chairman of O&M, says: “No one has managed to get the Hoover brand message across to consumers for some while. We’ve made sure we’re going to get access to the top people at the company for this campaign.

“Advertising is going to take the lead in its marketing strategy, for which Hoover has a total budget of $20m (12m).”

According to Hoover’s director of marketing, Charles Gordon, O&M’s task will be to revamp the brand’s image, while concentrating on the range of new products which have been launched this year.

Gordon adds: “This [appointment] is the third part of a process which began when we invested heavily in two of our plants and the launch of five new products.”

Hoover, which was sold to Italian manufacturer Candy in June 1995, has spent 1.7m on TV advertising in the UK so far this year.

The company has had to fight to regain its credibility since the “free flights” sales promotion fiasco in 1992 left thousands of people disappointed. The court cases are still continuing as many who took part in the promotion continue to demand compensation for their disappointment.

JWT (Manchester) won the 1.3m ad account for Candy UK from Leo Burnett several years ago.