EasyCar calls £5m media pitch

EasyCar has called a pitch for its £5m pan-European media planning and buying business.

The company has 50 sites across Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland. The media account is held by PHD, which is repitching.

The pitch is being overseen by easyCar chief executive Steve Maltby, acting marketing manager Georgina Appleton and easyGroup director of corporate affairs James Rothnie. Maltby joined from Inchcape Automotive last September.

Easycar has recently shifted its business model towards franchising and brokerage – managing the excess inventory of other car-hire companies.

Its first franchise is in Cyprus. It has a fleet of about 8,000 cars, but is unlikely to add more vehicles. The company develops its advertising in house although it considered appointing an advertising agency last year. However, it has decided that television advertising is not appropriate for the brand at present.

EasyCar has just launched a bus-side campaign targeting the UK short-breaks market and promoting its hire cars for a “coastal getaway”.

Earlier this year it ran an out- door campaign featuring easyGroup chief executive Stelios Haji-Ioannou and the strapline “Does what it says on the door”.

The company was rapped last November by the Advertising Standards Authority, which ruled that a “hire a car from one pound a day” promotion was “misleading”.

EasyCar declared a £13.2m loss in its last reported results for the year ending September 2002.