St Luke’s wins £70m launch business for BT Openreach

St Luke’s has been appointed to handle the &£70m launch of BT’s new Openreach division, after the agency decided not to repitch for the &£17m business-to-business account, which is being reviewed.

The agency’s design and brand consultancy, The Nest, will work with BT to launch Openreach, the new business that will open BT’s local telephone exchanges to rivals.

Openreach, which was set up as part of a regulatory settlement with Ofcom to increase competition in the telecoms market, houses BT’s 25,000 engineers and is a separate business to its retail unit.

It was thought that BT would look beyond roster agencies Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO and St Luke’s because the new unit also works for its rivals. The company has sidestepped that problem by appointing The Nest.

BT is approaching agencies about its business-to-business account. Sources say the telecoms giant was surprised when St Luke’s declined to repitch. The business accounts for nearly half the agency’s total &£40m billings, but the brief is to handle BT’s business brands globally, and the company is understood to be talking to network agencies.

The review follows the pitch earlier this year for BT’s &£40m consumer account. It was won by AMV, as first tipped in Marketing Week (June 2). The agency has gone on to produce a campaign based around a “30-something” character called Adam, played by Kris Marshall (MW October 20).