Media Contacts gets lucky with Camelot account

Media Contacts has won the £3m online media buying business for lottery operator Camelot. The appointment follows a six-way pitch, which is thought to include Agency Republic, Unique Digital and OMD Digital and the incumbent Tribal DDB

The move has consolidated the digital media business into Media Contacts, which previously handled the online planning contract, with Tribal DDB in charge of the buying.

The brief covers media buying on the Web, tracking and maximising campaign effectiveness, third-party activity, which includes creating deals with portals and online publishers, and affiliate activity such as placing ads on websites via an intermediary. Camelot says that the Media Contacts’ expertise in affiliate activity and campaign tracking was significant in the appointment.

The Lottery’s Digital and online business has been one of the Lottery’s biggest growth areas in the last year. Its yearly figures showed a 600 per cent increase in online business in 2004.

In January, Tribal DDB was handed the online creative contracts for Lotto and Thunderball, in a move that many predicted would lead to the digital review. It does not affect Camelot’s relationship with its other agencies. Creative is held by Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO and its media agencies are OMD and MPG.