British Library begins agency hunt to promote business and IP centre

The British Library is looking for its first advertising agency. The aim is to create a campaign targeting entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses.

Several agencies have been approached by the library’s marketing department over the last few days and a shortlist will be drawn up this week.

The library has won a &£1m grant from the London Development Agency to develop its business and intellectual property centre from a pilot project into a permanent resource. The centre contains one of the world’s largest collections of market research reports, free access to online subscription databases, company information and financial news.

Some of the LDA money will be spent on advertising the facility, which also features access to the library’s intellectual property resources, including its collection of 50 million patents.

A spokesman says that this is the first time the library will be appointing an agency for above-the-line activity and that the winning agency will be handed a “blank canvas” in terms of how it promotes the library and centre.

He adds that the agencies will be selected on the advice of other similar bodies in the capital and that the library is hoping to appoint a full-service agency to handle all aspects of the campaign.

As the money will come from the LDA grant, the campaign will run only in London.

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