HHCL loses £5m Tango to Clemmow

Clemmow Hornby Inge (CHI) has scooped the &£5m advertising business for Britvic-owned Tango brand.

The agency, which has been going for just over six months and is headed by Johnny Hornby, Simon Clemmow and ex-Lowe creative Charles Inge, was appointed after a final round of pitches against incumbent HHCL & Partners and TBWA/London.

The loss is a blow for HHCL, which has worked on the business for over ten years. The agency has lost a number of accounts in the past six months, including Egg, the Automobile Association and ITV. HHCL chief executive Simon Burridge denies the agency will have to make further redundancies, after making three people redundant last month.

Britvic Soft Drinks category director Andrew Marsden initiated the Tango review in November (MW 29 November, 2001).

Marsden, together with CHI, is under pressure to revive sales of the carbonated soft drink, which have slipped heavily over the past two years. CHI’s first advertising campaign for the Tango orange drink will break in late April or early May.

AC Nielsen/Checkout’s survey of the top 100 grocery brands in super-markets ranked Tango in 96th place, with sales down seven per cent in value year on year to &£49.3m. In retail outlets, overall sales of the brand were down 17 per cent (AC Nielsen/MEAL) for the year to April 2001.

Tango has lost ground to Coca-Cola’s Fanta, and its once rebellious advertising has been criticised for targeting a niche market of “Jack the Lads”.

Marsden says CHI will be working on a summer campaign and that the total marketing spend for the brand this year will be &£9m.

HHCL retains the &£10m account for Britvic’s Robinsons.