Capital in £5m hunt for agency

Capital Radio has started the search for a new agency to handle its £5m advertising business.

Capital Radio has started the search for a new agency to handle its &£5m advertising business.

The search is being led by Andria Vidler, Capital’s managing director. Vidler was formerly BBC head of sports marketing and business development and started at the radio station this year.

Capital had been using Mustoe Merriman Herring Levy (MMHL) project by project, but the agency was appointed by rival Virgin Radio earlier this year. MMHL created Capital’s advertising campaign “It’s your London”.

Vidler is keen to re-establish Capital as the station of choice for Londoners. The station has come under increasingly heavy competition, particularly from EMAP-owned Kiss FM.

A spokeswoman for Capital says: “We are in the early stages of finding an agency. We hope to be able to announce who that will be by the end of May.”

The spokeswoman refused to comment on which agencies had been approached. However it is understood that one of the agencies Vidler is talking to is St Luke’s.

Last year, Capital ditched its famous smiling sun logo. The move was part of an overhaul of the station’s image, implemented by the former Capital marketing manager, Vijay Solanki. Solanki left to join IPC last year, and Vidler has decided not to replace him.