Billington Cartmel picks up BERR

Billington Cartmel has been appointed by the Central Office of Information to handle marketing communications for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), after winning a pitch against an undisclosed number of agencies.

The agency now has a brief to raise awareness of consumer rights, and is already working with the department’s partners on a multi-channel campaign aimed at informing and educating consumers of their legal rights.

The BERR is responsible for consumer protection and the enforcement of consumer standards. It is led by Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for BERR, and works with a number of regulatory bodies and agencies, among them the National Consumer Council, the Competition Commission, the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, the Low Pay Commission, the Office of Fair Trading and Ofgem.

The department is responsible for monitoring unfair marketing practices and, earlier this year, threatened to ban the UK’s big six energy companies – e.on, British Gas, EDF, npower, Scottish & Southern and Scottish Power – from door-to-door sales after repeated allegations of mis-selling (MW July 31).

Billington Cartmell has had a strong new business year over 2008 with new wins from William Hill’s retail division, First Choice Holidays and retail chain Game (MW.co.uk October 30).

The agency has also picked up work from Unilever, Panasonic, Samsung and Mazda.