NMA appoints VCCP for conference branding brief

The Newspaper Marketing Agency (NMA) has appointed Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest to work on its conference branding project. VCCP’s specific brief will be to focus on branding and awareness around the NMA’s conference activity.

Launched officially in July 2003 with former ITV programming controller Maureen Duffy as its chief executive, the NMA promotes display advertising in national newspapers.

The appointment is unlikely to affect existing agency arrangements with TBWA/London or Tequila/ London, which created the current NMA trade marketing campaign, which is worth about £1m.

The ad, aimed at marketing directors and press buyers, aims to show how advertising in newspapers can attract up to seven times more attention from consumers than television.

In the past, the NMA has received unwanted attention when it was twice rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for its newspaper ads at the end of last year (MW November 11, 2004).

In November, the ASA upheld a number of complaints that three executions, all created by TBWA/London, were misleading. The ads featured spoof products and encouraged readers to look at the NMA’s website.

In September, the ASA investigated complaints about another ad, which showed a stiletto heel spiking a businessman’s body with his blood pouring onto the ground.