Kwik-Fit hands 10m to Faulds

Kwik-Fit has delivered a crushing blow to The Morgan Partnership and CIA Medianetwork Scotland by handing Edinburgh agency Faulds Advertising its 10m full service advertising account.

Both agencies face possible closure. Managing director of CIA Medianetwork Scotland Graham Milne says: “The options could range from maintaining the status quo to shutting down.”

The account, one of the biggest in Scotland, was awarded days after it emerged that Ford was to buy the car repair chain for 1bn, giving founder Sir Tom Farmer a 77m payout.

Ford roster agencies Ogilvy & Mather and MindShare handle the creative and media account for the car giant’s own fast-fit chain Rapid Fit, but Kwik-Fit insists that its advertising arrangements will be handled separately to Ford’s.

Faulds’ appointment ends Morgan’s seven-year hold on Kwik-Fit’s creative brief, wiping out a major part of its 11.5m billings. But Morgan is understood to have kept Kwik-Fit’s fleet and Budget Exhaust & Tyre Centre accounts – worth an estimated 500,000. Agency chairman and managing director John Morgan was unavailable for comment.

Kwik-Fit called its advertising review six months ago (MW October 22 1998) after prolonged speculation about the account.

Kwik-Fit chairman and chief executive Sir Tom Farmer, sales and marketing director Doug McKenzie, and group marketing director Peter Holmes saw two presentations each from Faulds, Morgan and The Leith Agency and CIA Medianetwork.

Faulds managing director Dennis Chester says the agency pitched with a new take on the famous 15-year-old “Kwik-Fit Fitters” characters.

He says: “You tamper with such icons at your peril but we have created a campaign which moves the fitters on to benefit the brand.”