Banks Hoggins nets 4m Waitrose

Banks Hoggins O’Shea has won the 4m full-service account for Waitrose, the upmarket supermarket chain owned by the John Lewis Partnership.

Banks Hoggins beat Delaney Fletcher Bozell and incumbent LLS Jaffe Keating to the multimedia account. Press and poster advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and sponsorship are all part of the business. St Luke’s was on an earlier shortlist, but pulled out last month.

The John Lewis Partnership is generally seen as a reluctant advertiser, but is increasing its spend for Waitrose in the face of increasingly aggressive marketing from every other major food retailer. Waitrose’s stores are all based in London and the South-east, and have a reputation for quality.

The ad review was handled cautiously over four months, with the client drawing up a shortlist after visiting the Advertising Agency Register.

Waitrose has appointed its first marketing director. Mark Price, currently managing director of the John Lewis store in Cheadle, will take up the post at the start of the new financial year on February 2 1998.

This month, Banks Hoggins has also won Daihatsu’s media buying from Frontline Media and the 1.5m Sara Lee Bakery account (MW December 5).

Grand Metropolitan’s Bombay Sapphire Gin brand faces an uncertain long-term future with Banks Hoggins O’Shea, following the US Federal Trade Commission’s ruling that Diageo – the merged Guinness/Grand Metropolitan grouping – must sell the global rights to the brand, along with Dewar’s scotch (which is not widely sold or advertised in the UK). Allied Domecq, Seagram and Pernod Ricard are seen as potential bidders.

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