MediaCom appointed to handle £6m Metropolitan Police account

The Metropolitan Police has appointed MediaCom to handle its entire media planning and buying account, worth up to &£6m.

The agency already had the &£2m Metropolitan Police Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA) publicity account, but has now picked up the force’s recruitment advertising business. A review of the two media accounts, as well as the recruitment creative account, was announced in March this year.

The Metropolitan Police spent &£3m on recruitment advertising this year and had planned to increase its spend by &£1m next year, but a spokesman says the budget is under review as a result of the economic climate.

Media for the recruitment advertising was previously handled by TMP Worldwide, which has retained the creative work for this part of the business following a review.

Creative work for the DPA account, which includes anti-racism and anti-drugs initiatives as well as Met operations such as Operation Bumblebee, is handled by the Advertising Syndicate and was not part of the review.

The spokesman adds that a recruitment campaign was planned for January next year but may be postponed because of budget restraints. “At the moment police recruitment has been knocked off the top of the agenda, but that may change. Everything is being reviewed,” he says.

All agency contracts are for an initial three-year period, after which they may be extended for another two years before coming under statutory review.