Alcone picks up RoadChef £4m account

Motorway services firm RoadChef has appointed Alcone to its £4m below-the-line business.

There was no incumbent agency and no other agencies were invited to pitch.

Alcone’s first round of activity will be a £500,000 nationwide promotional campaign. RoadChef is giving away Toyota MR2s and using a range of ambient channels to communicate the message. RoadChef- branded car transporters will carry Toyota MR2s on UK motorways and hitch-hikers will hold up RoadChef signs near motorway service areas.

Alcone’s campaign aims to shift outdated perceptions of RoadChef with the aim of making the company the UK’s best motorway services operator.

“Too many people don’t stop because they remember the way services used to be and not what RoadChef has to offer today,” says Charlie Eddy, senior account director at Alcone.

RoadChef, set up in 1972 as a joint venture between Lindley Catering Investments and Galleon World Travel, has spent £30m on its services over the past two years. Its associated brands and franchises include Travel Inn, Costa Coffee, Wimpy and WimpyChicken.

Alcone’s other business includes the advertising for Warner Village, but this account is under review following the cinema group’s acquisition by rival SBC International Cinemas (MW May 15).