GMG reviews Smooth radio ad account

Guardian Media Group (GMG) Radio is reviewing the advertising account for its Smooth radio brand. The account is worth about £1.5m and is currently handled by Clear Marketing, which has been invited to repitch.

The review, which will be overseen by the AAR, will start early in the new year and comes ahead of a major investment in the Smooth brand. GMG launched Smooth, which was previously Jazz FM, earlier this year after rebranding the Saga radio network that it acquired last year.

Clear, which is based in Manchester, will continue to handle the advertising for Real Radio and Century brands.

The group is also reviewing its media buying account and it plans to appoint an agency to handle all of its radio brands before Christmas. The AAR is also handling that pitch.

Stuart Taylor, GMG commercial director, says: “As we plan to increase our marketing spend on Smooth significantly over the next couple of years and in particular across London we want to ensure we have the right creative marketing message that provides us with the most powerful proposition for the brand.”