Maiden beats Viacom to Irish transport job

CIE, the transport authority that runs Irish rail and bus services, has named Maiden Outdoor as the preferred bidder for its e100m (&£68.6m) outdoor account.

Maiden will be awarded a five-year contract. The incumbent, Viacom Outdoor, pitched for the business against Maiden and several other agencies. Viacom’s contract runs until December.

The account is worth around one-fifth of the entire outdoor market in Ireland.

The contract does not include bus shelter advertising, but encompasses media on the inside and outside of buses, plus ads at railway stations, alongside platforms and on road-facing billboards on CIE-owned rail property.

Maiden Outdoor managing director David Pugh says: “We have exciting plans for this estate over the next five years and hope to introduce some new ideas to the Irish outdoor market.”

Viacom Outdoor International chief executive Tom Goddard says: “The CIE business only makes up two per cent of our European revenue and slightly less of our profit, but we were surprised and disappointed that CIE named a different supplier as preferred bidder.”

Dublin-based CIE is owned by the Irish Government and run by the Department of Transport.