O2 draws up agency shortlist in direct marketing business review

O2 UK is reviewing its direct marketing business and has drawn up a shortlist of agencies to pitch for the account.

The review covers both its consumer and business divisions and is estimated to be worth more than £1m. O2 UK head of business marketing Fiona McGilchrist is conducting the review.

The mobile phone operator currently has a roster of direct marketing agencies, which includes Agency Republic, EHS Brann, Proximity and Tullo Marshall Warren. Three months ago, O2 cut back the number of agencies it uses from 30 to 15.

O2’s above-the-line business is managed by Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest. Its media business is managed by the Almond Partnership and PHD.

T-Mobile recently claimed to have overtaken O2 as the UK’s third-largest mobile phone network. However, O2 disputes this and says that it has a greater number of customers on a contract rather than pay-as-you-go basis. In its interim results, it gained an additional 171,000 contract customers for the six months to September 30.

O2 has spent £3.5m on a Christmas campaign that is running on terrestrial television and includes press and poster advertising. In November, it launched an advertising campaign to promote its media messaging service, which enables users to send and receive picture and text messages.