Bates set to triumph in pitch for £40m BSkyB
Bates UK is tipped to have won the lion’s share of BSkyB’s advertising budget, variously estimated at between £40m and £60m.
The satellite broadcaster is moving away from using a single agency. St Luke’s has been the creative agency for BSkyB for the past two years and will remain on the roster.
BSkyB is thought to use Unity, Clinic, Tequila and Klondike. Media bought through Universal McCann will be unaffected by the review.
Other contenders included The Leith Advertising Agency and WCRS.
It is thought that representatives from Bates UK are due to meet BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball later this week, and that his final approval will be a formality.
As Marketing Week went to press BSkyB marketing director Scott Meneer says: “I am categorically stating no decision has been made.”
He adds: “No decision is going to be made until Tony Ball ratifies any recommendation.”
BSkyB has set itself ambitious revenue targets of £400 for each direct-to-home-via-satellite subscriber by 2005, up 40 per cent on the present of £286. It is hoping that half the increase will come from its interactive services including betting and the Open TV shopping mall. The company has more than 5.25 million subscribers.
