Hubert awards Carat LoveIt! planning and buying work

Hubert Burda Media has appointed Carat to handle media for its first campaign for celeb weekly LoveIt! since buying the title from News International last December.

Carat won the business, worth in “the low millions”, following a pitch against undisclosed agencies. It will handle planning and buying for a TV campaign planned to launch in June.

The campaign is being created by LoveIt! incumbent Euro RSCG.

Both agencies were hired by News International when it launched LoveIt! into the burgeoning celebrity women’s weekly market in early 2006.

Matt Hayes, group advertising sales director for the privately owned German media company’s London consumer magazine sales unit, which handles Front and Your Home as well as Love it!, says the campaign will seek to reverse the sales decline which led to the title’s sale by News International.

The title beat its circulation target to reach 405,441 copies in its first ABCs in August 2006.

However, it has suffered one of the worst circulation dips as a result of a slowing of the public’s love affair with celebrity-led weekly titles. It dropped a further 7.6% circulation to record 339,427 copies in its last ABCs figures before it was bought by Hubert Burda in the six months to December 2008.

Hello! magazine was the only celebrity weekly to record a circulation rise year on year in the latest ABCs figures, recording a 7.1% rise to 423,649 copies. The sector continues to be led by Bauer Media’s Closer, which recorded a small dip of 1.6% to 539,991 copies.

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