COI adds six agencies to its £200m roster

COI Communications (COI) has appointed a further six advertising agencies to its roster, in a move that reflects the Government’s increase in advertising spend over the past three years.

Following a statutory review, Fallon, Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy, Mother, Mustoe Merriman Levy, Publicis and Walsh Trott Chick Smith have all been added to a list that already includes BMP DDB and Delaney Lund Knox Warren.

At the same time, the COI has added Publicis, draft Worldwide, Target Direct Marketing, Lion, and Whitewater Creative Services to its direct marketing roster.

The Government’s annual ad spend rose to a record high of almost £200m, according to the COI annual report. Its £192m spend for the year ending March 2001 represented a rise of nearly 70 per cent on last year.

COI deputy chief executive Peter Buchanan made the appointments.

The COI refused to comment on which, if any, agencies had been dropped from the roster.

Last month, the COI appointed its first roster of agencies to handle its strategic planning work.

COI has also appointed Ogilvy & Mather, and direct marketing agency Cramm Francis Woolf to create a through-the-line campaign, promoting the Business Link service at the Small Business Service (SBS).

The SBS, part of the Department of Trade and Industry, was set up to protect small business and to help reduce the burden of regulation, while providing support and advice through the Business Link network.

The campaign breaks in October.