Clubbing TV channel in agency hunt
Rapture TV, the youth television channel, is seeking a creative agency to spearhead an advertising push worth up to &£3m next year.
The channel, which started broadcasting 24 hours a day last July, has moved its media planning and buying account out of BBJ and into MJ Media, a subsidiary of Total Media.
Managing director and founder Adam Stanhope – former chief executive of Initiative – refused to comment on the ad agency review, though it is thought to be going through the AAR.
But he says: “We are coming up to another big stage in our development. We have been 24-hour for a while and now it’s a question of putting some oomph behind it.”
He says that the budget will be increased for the ad drive, and that it could be worth between &£2m and &£3m. Rapture, which is owned by Lord Hollick’s United Business Media, is positioned as the UK’s first, and currently its only, channel to focus on clubbing, and is mainly available on digital channels.
The station has recently hired a marketing manager, Sarah Hodkinson, who is running the pitches. Previously, she was marketer for Music Magazine.
Rapture has a production team of 40 in Norwich which Stanhope says is facing “marginal” cuts, with some six people facing redundancy.