U-turn as Saatchi wins back £3m NSPCC brief

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has reappointed Saatchi & Saatchi to its &£3m advertising account, but may shelve the agency’s highly acclaimed “full stop” campaign, which raises awareness of child abuse.

The charity shocked the ad industry when it announced the review of its account, given the plaudits received by Saatchi’s campaign. The push has won a number of top awards, including the Marketing Week/CIM Effectiveness award for campaign of the year.

Saatchi repitched against Court Burkitt and WCRS, and won the account with a new set of creative ideas.

NSPCC spokeswoman Marian Rose says the review was statutory, as it is the charity’s policy to reappraise all suppliers when expenditure hits a given level.

But she says it is unclear whether the campaign will be run again, whether a new campaign will be created, or whether both will be run at the same time, as future budgets have yet to be set. “If we had waited till the budgets had been confirmed, it would have been too late,” she says.

Rose denies suggestions that the “full stop” campaign was deemed inappropriate as it demonised child abusers and was too hard-hitting. She also denies there had been a problem with the way Saatchi handled the account.

Saatchi joint chief executive Tamara Ingram declines to comment on the situation, although she says she is “delighted” that Saatchi has been reappointed.