Carat beats incumbents to £34m Tiny Computers

Carat has picked up the £34m media buying account for Tiny Computers following a pitch against incumbents MBS Media and the Collins Partnership.

Carat has picked up the &£34m media buying account for Tiny Computers following a pitch against incumbents MBS Media and the Collins Partnership.

The group’s direct marketing division Carat Direct pitched for the account to avoid any suggestion of a conflict of interest with Carat London, which handles some business for rival personal computer company Dell.

MBS Media handled Tiny’s TV buying business, understood to be worth about &£5m.

The Collins Partnership bought all national and regional press advertising, which represented 80 per cent of the total account.

It is understood Tiny will spend about &£34m in its forthcoming financial year beginning in Feb-ruary, up from &£27m the previous year.

Tiny has a considerable retail presence, with more than 180 outlets.

In June last year, the company announced it would offer free Internet-capable PCs to customers who signed a year-long contract with its Internet service provider Tiny Online, at the rate of &£25 per month. The company has since dropped the free PC offer.

It recently announced a &£3m investment drive to boost Internet sales through its e-commerce site.

Tiny’s creative agency, Golley Slater & Partners, is not thought to be affected by the review.