MFI Retail moves media and advertising accounts into McCann Erickson Birmingham

MFI Retail has pulled its advertising and media accounts from M&C Saatchi and ZenithOptimedia into full service agency McCann Erickson Birmingham. The move is understood to have followed problems securing credit insurance on its 26m media spend.

MFI Retail has pulled its advertising and media accounts from M&C Saatchi and ZenithOptimedia into full service agency McCann Erickson Birmingham. The move is understood to have followed problems securing credit insurance on its £26m media spend.

It is understood that Zenith Optimedia refused to pre-pay for MFI’s media because of its lack of insurance, forcing it to move to another media agency. The furniture retailer is thought to have approached M&C Saatchi sister agency Walker Media in a bid to consolidate the account before turning to the Birmingham-based full-service shop.

M&C Saatchi won MFI’s advertising business from Publicis in December 2006 and was responsible for its recent “family argument” campaign. However, the retailer was rapped by the ASA for a specific ad showing a wife hitting her husband in a toilet-seat row (pictured). Zenith Optimedia successfully repitched for the media account last year.

ZenithOptimedia retained the MFI media planning and buying business in September last year, following a pitch against Walker Media. It had held the account since the merger of Zenith Media and Optimedia in 2002. MFI had been a longstanding Optimedia client before that.