Edge Ideas wins £3m Swan Hellenic task

Edge Ideas has scooped the £3m marketing and advertising business for upmarket cruise line Swan Hellenic. The company, set up as Edge Communications in 1998, beat incumbent Banc to win the business in a pitch overseen by marketing and brand delivery director Carolanne Dieleman.

Edge Ideas was set up by Ron Leagas, former chairman of Leagas Shafron Davis. It handles accounts such as Avis, car dealership Autoplanet and online jobs website totaljobs.com.

The Swan Hellenic account includes the cruise line’s £1m advertising business, together with direct marketing and brochure design. Banc has held the account since August 2001, when the agency triumphed over then incumbent Team Saatchi. Media will still be handled by BLM Media.

Swan Hellenic is owned by Carnival Corporation, which also owns P&O Cruises, Ocean Village, Cunard and Princess Cruises. It is positioned as a premium cruise product that offers a cultural element, with high-calibre guest speakers. Edge Ideas has created the strapline “See the world from a different point of view” for a forthcoming press campaign.

Cruising is growing in popularity, driven by the mainstream brands’ deep discounting last year. The Passenger Shipping Association figures show sales in the UK topped 1 million for the first time in 2003, with the average price dropping five per cent to £1,052.