PHD retains £5m EasyCar account

EasyCar has retained PHD for its £5m pan-European media planning and buying business.

PHD was reappointed after a final pitch against OMD overseen by easyCar chief executive Steve Maltby and acting marketing manager Georgina Appleton. OMD handles the bulk of easyJet’s media planning and buying.

EasyCar develops its advertising in house and has just finished running a bus-side campaign targeting the UK short breaks market, promoting its hire cars for a “coastal getaway”. It plans heavier investment in online advertising.

The company has struggled to make money, with last reported results showing a £13.2m loss and easyGroup chief executive Stelios Haji-Ioannou having to inject more cash.

However, the company is shifting its business model from maintaining its own 8,000-strong fleet towards franchising and brokerage – managing the excess inventory of other car companies (MW April 22). The company’s first franchise is in Cyprus.

At present easyCar has franchises 50 in total, with 23 in the UK and the rest in France, Spain and Switzerland.

EasyGroup is pressing ahead with other ventures such as easyHotel, for which Haji-Ioannou has just bought a Kensington property, and easyCruise, which is due to launch in April 2005.