Costa hands £2m brief to Karmarama after rebrand

Costa Coffee, the Whitbread-owned chain, has appointed Karmarama to handle its &£2m advertising. The agency won the business following a final contest with Shop, formerly Campbell Doyle Dye.

The coffee shop did not have a retained agency, but has worked with several small creative shops on various projects.

Earlier this year, Costa announced plans to increase the number of its UK outlets from 400 to almost 1,000 by 2010. The pitch was overseen by Costa’s head of UK marketing Mike Lawless, who will develop and implement the advertising strategy alongside Karmarama as the coffee chain expands.

It is believed the review does not affect Meteorite’s grip on Costa’s in-store, online and promotional marketing. Last year, the agency developed a mailing to highlight the Italian heritage of the chain, which was founded by brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971.

The chain is now planning to revamp its packaging and logo using the Costa Italia brand on bags of coffee sold through Morrisons and Tesco. The rebranding work has been handled by Interbrand.

Whitbread plans to focus on its Costa chain, Premier Travel Inn hotels and David Lloyd health clubs. It recently reshuffled its senior management team (MW April 27) following the departure of Pub Restaurants division managing director Phil Urban.

He was replaced by Costa managing director Mark Phillips, with Pizza Hut managing director John Derkach replacing Phillips.

Whitbread has put its Pizza Hut and TGI Friday’s businesses under review and intends to sell off 250 pubs.