Initiative tipped for £25m Carphone Euro business

The Carphone Warehouse is poised to appoint Initiative Media to handle buying for a pan-European project worth some £25m.

The business, codenamed Mob e.com, is a pan-European Internet-style phone commerce portal, and is separate from Carphone’s £11m retail advertising account.

Initiative is understood to have been appointed without a pitch. Carphone UK roster agencies Matters Media and Unity have not been involved in the pan-European project.

Mob-e.com, to be launched later this year, will be pre-installed in every new-generation wireless application protocol-enabled (WAP) mobile phone sold by Carphone.

By early next year, Carphone aims to have 500,000 customers shopping using its mobiles.

The appointment is being made by David Thatcher, who joined Mob-e.com as deputy managing director last month. Thatcher was previously customer marketing director at BSkyB.

Thatcher admits he is “in talks” with Initiative, but would not comment on any appointment.

Having also declined to comment on the possible appointment of a creative agency, he said: “We are talking to agencies on all aspects, and we will make an announcement in about ten days’ time.”

In a separate move, Carphone is to roll out a campaign to help customers understand how to access the Internet through their mobile.