£5M bmibaby account to stay at Euro RSCG

Bmibaby has retained incumbent agency Euro RSCG to its advertising business, estimated to be worth &£5m, without a pitch.

While the airline has extended its contract with the agency, the relationship between Euros and the parent bmi brand remains unclear. Commercial director Adrian Parkes is overseeing bmi’s marketing department, after the departure of head of marketing Amanda Burns earlier this year.

He is believed to be undertaking a review of the department, but has denied reports that bmi has approached other agencies (MW June 9).

Marketing director David Hodge, meanwhile, is responsible for bmibaby. He says that Euros has been “reassigned” to the business as part of a wider review of the group’s contracts across different parts of the business.

Hodge is also overseeing media planning and buying for both bmi and bmibaby, and has drawn up a shortlist of four agencies/ incumbent PHD, Walker Media, Mediaedge:CIA and Vizeum.

Although the planning and buying accounts are handled together, bmi and bmibaby actually have separate creative accounts, both currently held by Euros.

“On a creative level, we do not tend to do things as a group,” says Hodge.

But he adds the decision to extend the relationship between bmibaby and Euros was simple.

“We are very happy with the agency’s work, so we offered it a new contract. It was very straightforward,” he adds.