COI plumps for GroupM offering for media buying
COI Communications has appointed WPP’s media offering GroupM M4C to handle its centralised £250m media planning business.
The Government recently announced a 25% cut in marketing spend that when combined with plans to halve consultancy bills, could save the Treasury £650m a year.
The contract comes into effect from April 2010 once current arrangements expire and will last approximately four years. Previously, COI tendered its media buying by medium, such as TV, press and radio.
Group M pitched against Smile (a consortium of Starcom and i-level) and Unify (an Aegis offering).
COI says that centralisation enables full integration across media platforms and channels. This is expected to deliver a number of benefits for both COI and its government and public sector clients.
It believes that the changing media landscape demands that all COI media buying spend is pulled together together.
It will also lead to even more effective campaigns as COI embraces new and emerging opportunities within its solutions.
Peter Buchanan, COI deputy chief executive said: “I am confident that we have a visionary, integrated buying approach, which will enable us to face the media market challenges, going forward.”
