Optimedia lands £8m Hilfiger job

Optimedia has beaten Mediapolis to the &£8m centralised planning and buying account for US fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger in seven European markets.

The two agencies made it to the second round after Hilfiger’s UK incumbent CDP Media, pitching with affiliated media company CIA Medianetwork and Carat, were eliminated at an earlier stage.

Ben Simmonds-Gooding, Hilfiger’s new European marketing director who joined from advertising agency Wieden & Kennedy (W&K), oversaw the review.

Optimedia will be responsible for planning and buying media for Hilfiger’s core men’s clothing range, and is expected to be involved in the launch of women’s wear, accessories, footwear and soft furnishings.

The account will be co-ordinated from London across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. Optimedia managing director Simon Mathews led the pitch for the agency.

Simmonds-Gooding, who was an account director for Nike at W&K, is based in Amsterdam at Hilfiger’s European headquarters. He was unavailable for comment as Marketing Week went to press.

Hilfiger’s creative work will continue to be imported from the US, where the fashion house has a contract with advertising agency Deutsch.