£12m Britannia in agency trawl
Britannia Music Company is looking for an advertising agency to handle its £12m business relaunch.
The Universal Music-owned retailer, which recently appointed Wolff Olins to work on its brand positioning, is seeking a full-service agency to look after advertising, direct marketing and design. The review is being handled by the Haystack Group.
The pitch is being overseen by recently appointed Britannia Music managing director Ford Ennals, formerly director of group customer management at Lloyds TSB.
However, the initial stages of the pitch will be overseen by newly appointed marketing director Adam Tuson, former Lloyds TSB head of brand communications, and commercial director Collette Nugent, a former marketing manager at Orange.
Britannia is battling to compete with online retailers such as Amazon and with supermarkets’ expanded home entertainment offerings.
The company uses ten different agencies for marketing but has no lead advertising agency. Its media account, split between MediaVest Manchester and Carat, is to be moved to one agency. The two incumbents will pitch against MediaVest UK.
Ennals says he wants the relaunch to address public misconceptions about the brand, such as the idea that Britannia only deals in music. He claims that DVD and VHS sales will account for more than 50 per cent of the company’s business by the end of this year.
Britannia is believed to have 1.5 million members, down from a peak of 2 million. The company ended sponsorship of the Brit Awards in 1998 after ten years of involvement with the event.
