JWT snatches £5m brief for Auto Trader

Auto Trader has handed its £5m advertising business to J Walter Thompson, bringing the account back over the border from Scotland.

Auto Trader has handed its &£5m advertising business to J Walter Thompson, bringing the account back over the border from Scotland.

The business was previously handled by Edinburgh-based Faulds Advertising, which developed the “perfect partner” positioning for the brand. Faulds went into liquidation in October (MW October 2). The decision to appoint JWT was made by group marketing director Matt Thompson.

JWT senior art director Billy Mawhinney worked on the Auto Trader account when he was creative director at Faulds and, in April 2002, oversaw the creation of a television campaign spoofing Hollywood movies. Mawhinney returned to JWT in August last year.

Faulds won the business from Orpheus in July 1999 (MW July 15, 1999). The agency also handled media planning and buying, until MediaCom was appointed in July this year.

Auto Trader is based in south London, and is published by Trader Media Group. It has 13 regional editions, with a combined weekly circulation of 340,000. Sister magazines include Auto Freeway and Bike Trader.

In August, Guardian Media Group paid &£593m to buy the 52 per cent of Trader Media it did not already own from management and venture capitalists BC Partners.