HHCL wins 2m Welsh Assembly ad campaign

HHCL & Partners has beaten Ogilvy & Mather to the 2m Central Office of Information campaign to promote next year’s elections to the Welsh Assembly.

HHCL pitched with the Welsh office of sister company Bell Pottinger Good Relations, the Chime-owned PR company, against O&M, which teamed up with Mark Williams Associates.

Roster agencies EURO RSCG Wnek Gosper, WCRS and Welsh agencies Golley Slater and the Peterson Company were considered at an earlier stage.

The elections are scheduled for May next year. However, it is a sensitive issue for the Government because of the embarrassing lack of local enthusiasm. Turnout for the referendum on whether to set up the Assembly was just 50 per cent. Overall, only one in four people in Wales voted in favour, giving a tiny majority of 0.6 per cent.

Pat Wilson, director of information at the Welsh Office, says: “This will initially be a community-based campaign with a number of different sub-plots.

“These include a voter registration campaign to get people to vote as well as a campaign to explain how the system will work. We are considering TV advertising, but evening and weekly papers will be a very important element.”