New washing machine company hunts agency

Home electrics start-up Monotub Industries is seeking an agency to handle the &£1m launch of its groundbreaking Titan washing machine.

Monotub founder Martin Myerscough has secured &£3.5m of City backing for the project, which is being compared to the launch of the Dyson vacuum cleaner. The company is to be floated on the Alternative Investments Market (AIM) next month.

The Titan machine, which is still in development, takes 40 per cent more washing than conventional machines and has a removable clothes basket, which can be taken out when the wash is finished. It is due to launch next autumn.

Monotub, which aims to sell 50,000 machines each year, has signed a deal with a national retailer for the exclusive right to sell the machine for an initial four-month period.

Monotub marketing director Nigel Gresham, former marketing director of Ariston, is believed to have a &£1m budget for the launch.

Monotub chief executive Brian Austin says: “We have been talking to a couple of agencies about the launch and we will probably be holding a pitch at some stage.