O&M grabs COI training account

Ogilvy & Mather is understood to have won a Government account to encourage higher standards of training at work.

The campaign will be for Investors in People, a company set up in 1990 with a 2m a year grant from the Department of Employment (now merged with the Department of Education), to increase the skills of UK workers. It previously ran a national press campaign through GGT.

The account is likely to be worth about 700,000 in its first year, though this will probably rise if the drive proves successful. The pitch was handled by the Central Office of Information which shortlisted EURO RSCG Wnek Gosper and TBWA as well as O&M.

O&M’s campaign is likely to be aimed at individual employees and will explain the benefits of their companies joining the programme.

About 12,000 companies have signed up for the scheme, though only 1,200 have achieved its targets. A recent Government White Paper on the subject admitted: “We need to aim higher.”

Companies signing up for the Investors in People scheme accept a commitment to train workers throughout their employment, review their training needs regularly, and evaluate them continuously.