TBWA wins £10m Ask Jeeves brief

TBWA GGT Simons Palmer has won the £10m UK advertising account for search engine Ask Jeeves.

The agency beat Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and Delaney Lund Knox Warren to the business.

Vice-president of marketing for the UK and Ireland, Adrian Cox, called a review in April after Ask Jeeves parted company with Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper bec ause of a conflict of interest with the Microsoft-owned search engine msn.

Euro RSCG first picked up the business in January and launched Ask Jeeves’ UK website in a TV, radio, press and poster campaign.

Cox says: “On balance, we felt TBWA demonstrated the strategic insight we were looking for.”

TBWA chief operating officer Neil Christie says: “In a mass of faceless dot-coms, Ask Jeeves is a powerful brand with genuine difference. We’re delighted to be working with our very own Internet butler.”

The service features a butler character who invites users to ask questions in plain English instead of using key words like most search engines.

Media remains with The Media Planning Group.

Triangle Communications was recently appointed as Ask Jeeves UK’s below-the-line agency.

Carlton Communications and the Granada Media Group together own a 50 per cent stake in Ask Jeeves UK. US parent company Ask Jeeves Inc owns the other half.