BBH scoops £10m video online retailer account

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) has won the &£10m advertising account for Blackstar, the Internet video sales specialist.

Blackstar launched its website, Blackstar.co.uk, two years ago. Sales through the site hit &£1m for March and the company aims to achieve &£20m in sales this year with the help of a beefed-up ad spend. It spent &£1m on advertising over the past year, handling its creative advertising in house.

BBH’s through-the-line arm, BBH Unlimited, landed the account after a pitch against Team Saatchi. J Walter Thompson pulled out at an earlier stage due to client conflicts.

BBJ Media Services has been appointed to handle the media buying and planning after a head-on pitch against MediaVest. The media incumbent, Northern Ireland’s Navigator Blue, did not repitch.

Blackstar marketing director and founder Jeremy Glover, formerly creative director of McCann-Erickson Belfast, says there are no plans to expand the site beyond videos but the new push will aim to take the existing site to a wider audience.

Glover says: “Until now, we have been working with targeted audiences through lifestyle magazines and the national press. The new work will be more mainstream.”

The new campaign will run on TV, outdoor and cinema, with online creative work by new media agency Profero.