Start-up M2M wins £10m haul

Fledgling media agency M2M, a subsidiary of Manning Gottlieb OMD, has won £10m-worth of accounts in a flurry of activity.

The accounts include activity holiday company Mark Warner Holidays; Aquascutum; Irish Ferries and the Swatch Group, which includes the Longines, Omega and Swatch brands. The agency has also been appointed to handle the planning and buying for Ireland-based directory enquiries number 118708, set to launch on August 24.

M2M managing director Peter Thomson, previously managing director of now-defunct Mediahead Communications, has managed to woo a swathe of former Mediahead clients.

In July, the agency won the £13m Estée Lauder media business, formerly handled by Mediahead. The loss of that account is believed to have sealed Mediahead’s fate and the agency was closed by owners Mediaedge:CIA and Dentsu shortly afterwards.

The account wins for M2M mean that the agency’s headcount has rapidly grown to 12, with Zenith Optimedia press planner/buyer Helen Curtin and Manning Gottlieb OMD’s Pippa Williscroft expected to join. Williscroft will head the Estée Lauder account.

M2M was set up in January, initially to handle accounts worth between £2m and £5m.