WWAV loses £6m Toyota DM brief

Toyota UK has sacked WWAV Rapp Collins from its &£6m direct marketing business, consolidating all of its below-the-line marketing budget with roster agency Miller Bainbridge.

WWAV handled the car company’s customer acquisition activity while Miller Bainbridge was responsible for customer retention.

The decision to consolidate the business was taken by Toyota marketing director Paul Philpott after an internal review of the company’s customer relationship management. He says: “We want to meet the demands of potential customers, and the cold direct marketing that WWAV was doing was not the way to go about it. We have decided we will gain greater efficiency if we transfer our funds to Miller Bainbridge.”

The bulk of Toyota’s direct budget will now be spent on managing prospective customers by such means as arranging test drives and keeping up an active dialogue with them.

“We feel that through Miller Bainbridge we can fulfil the purpose of our above-the-line advertising,” adds Philpott. “We are also becoming more relationship driven.”

The decision to move the business ends a three-year relationship with WWAV. Last year the agency lost the &£1m direct marketing brief for Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus to Partners Andrews Aldridge.

Miller Bainbridge has worked on the Toyota account since 1998.