Interflora reviews £2m ad brief while on hunt for marketing chief

Interflora, the flower delivery network, is reviewing its £2m advertising account despite the fact that it is on the hunt for a marketing director.

The business is held by creative agency The Company,which created the controversial Valentine’s Day ad campaign in 2001, featuring a woman’s bare chest with strategically placed roses and the tagline “Tit elation”. Private Eye refused to run the execution and the strapline was subsequently changed to “Asset management” (MW February 8, 2001). The review is being handled by the AAR.

Interflora has been without a board-level marketer since October, when Karl Burkitt left last autumn after less than a year in the job. Interflora said at the time that Burkitt, the company’s first marketing director, was “too commercial” (MW November 21, 2001). The company is run by a non-profit making trade association governed by a board of 11 directors, nine of whom are member florists.

Since then it has drafted in former Furniture Village marketing director David Standish as its interim head of marketing. Brand manager Jonathan Smith, who oversaw its move to racier advertising, will also be involved in the review.The review comes as Interflora’s grip on the flower market is threatened. Phonenames, a subsidiary of the Zockoll Group, is launching making the number 0800FLOWERS available, which will give florists the chance to compete against Interflora.