Lastminute.com reviews 4m ad account

Lastminute.com is reviewing its £4m advertising business out of Farm. It is already in talks with five undisclosed agencies about the account.

The review, which was predicted in Marketing Week earlier this year (MW January 16), will be overseen by Oystercatchers. An appointment will be made in time to begin work in 2009.

The online travel company says it is looking to find agency to take it into the “next stage of development” and to “accelerate future growth.”

Lastminute.com’s other agency relationships remain unaffected by the pitch. Lastminute.com handed its media planning and buying business to Manning Gottlieb OMD last year (MW October 4), while Tequila won its DM account in April.

The pitch for an ad agency follows Lastminute.com’s appointment of Julie Davidson as UK marketing director earlier this year (MW February 14). She joined the company in March and replaced interim marketing director Alistair Daly, who worked with Davidson through a “transition period” before leaving the company.