Three share £5m BAA retail brief

BAA, the airport management company, has appointed J Walter Thompson, Delaney Lund Knox Warren and incumbent Claydon Heeley Jones Mason to its &£5m retail advertising account.

The agencies will raise awareness of the BAA brand and remove the confusion surrounding the status of duty free inside and outside the EU.

UK airport retailers have struggled to maintain their cut-price image since July last year when duty-free shopping was abolished for people travelling within the EU.

The company, which owns and operates seven UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, has maintained duty-free prices across some goods, but not on tobacco or premium spirits.

The appointments follow a three-yearly statutory review.

Claydon Heeley has been working on BAA’s advertising since late last year when HHCL & Partners and Publicis left the roster. Both agencies declined to repitch for the account.

BAA recently poached Sainsbury’s Bank marketing director David Noble to be its first head of financial services (MW March 9). The company is keen to enter the financial services market to off-set losses resulting from the abolition of EU duty free.

Advertising for the new financial services division will fall under the remit of the newly appointed retail agencies.