OU announces future positioning brief pitch
The Open University is looking for an agency to handle a market positioning project.
Interim marketing, sales and customer development director Jan Smith is talking to up to five agencies about the strategic brief.
Smith says: “The positioning brief asks agencies to look at where the OU is going to be in future and to examine the implications of that for the organisation in the UK and around the world.”
She says the project will not affect FCBi’s hold on the OU’s integrated marketing account. FCBi was reappointed to the business last December, after a pitch against Clark McKay & Walpole, DFGW and Joshua. FCBi is creating a campaign for the OU to run later this year. According to Nielsen Media Research, the OU spends &£2.3m a year on advertising.
The OU is still looking for a marketing chief to replace former Royal Mail and Dulux marketer Dr Andrew Hobbs, who left last year (MW January 27). Smith, a former Mazda and RAC marketing director, will continue in the role until a permanent replacement is found.
The OU was founded in the 1969 and is the UK’s only university dedicated to long-distance learning. It has about 150,000 undergraduates and 30,000 postgraduates, most of whom study part time.
