Vauxhall picks DLKW for Vectra

Vauxhall has handed Delaney Lund Knox Warren (DLKW) the brief to advertise the Vectra model for the first time.

The move means Lowe’s grip on Vauxhall’s &£58m advertising business has once again been weakened. The loss leaves Lowe with briefs for the Zafira, Signum, VX220, Tigra and commercial vehicles, together worth &£13.6m

Difficulties between Lowe and Vauxhall were thought to have been ironed out when Vauxhall’s new marketing director Andy Gilson (MW January 29) met Lowe UK chief executive Matthew Bull earlier this year.

The agency recently lost the &£350m global HSBC advertising business, Unilever’s &£20m pan-European account for Surf, Braun’s &£40m global account and the &£25m global advertising for Flora (MW May 20).

Lowe earlier stemmed the tide of Vauxhall losses by winning the pitch to create advertising for the Tigra, a new small roadster set to be launched next month. DLKW was first added to the Vauxhall roster in 2002. It went on to win the core Astra account before picking up the &£12m account for the new Astra launched earlier this year (MW September 11, 2003). DLKW also handles the advertising for the Agila, Corsa and Meriva small cars, as well as the dealership account.

A spokesman for Vauxhall says: “We do not balance things out. There is a job to do to support our brands and we select the work that is most appropriate.”