Capital’s Xfm reviews £1.5m creative task

Capital Radio’s alternative music radio station Xfm is reviewing its £1.5m creative advertising.

Capital Radio’s alternative music radio station Xfm is reviewing its &£1.5m creative advertising.

The creative review comes one week after Unity resigned the strategic communications business, citing a difference of opinion over “direction”. The incumbent for the creative business is Quiet Storm, which will repitch for the business against a number of undisclosed ad agencies.

Xfm marketing director Charlotte Soussan, who is overseeing the pitch, says the station will make an appointment on both creative and strategic communication within two weeks.

Soussan says she is considering appointing two agencies to the creative account, and adds: “There is the possibility that we will appoint more than one, but it will depend on which agency is selected.”

Quiet Storm has held the creative account since January 2000, when Xfm first reviewed its marketing strategy. The London-based station launched in 1997 and avoided above-the-line marketing for two years, instead focusing on direct mail, fly-posting and sponsoring music festivals.

The station suffered an identity crisis after Capital Radio’s acquisition in 1998 and hired Quiet Storm to re-establish its credibility as a cutting-edge music station. Xfm had been accused of becoming too mainstream being bought by Capital.

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