Starcom wins 5m media account for AN websites
Associated Newspapers has handed Starcom the 5m media planning and buying brief for its FindaProperty.com and Loopylove.com websites. The decision follows a competitive pitch against undisclosed agencies.
Associated Newspapers has handed Starcom the £5m media planning and buying brief for its FindaProperty.com and Loopylove.com websites. The decision follows a competitive pitch against undisclosed agencies.
The agency, which already handles a majority of the group’s media planning and buying, will also handle the TV planning and buying for FindaProperty.com, and the offline media for dating site Loopylove.com.
FindaProperty.com has previously worked with Rathbone Media.
Associated parent company Daily Mail and General Trust has been building its presence on the web over recent years in a bid to take a bigger share of the online advertising market. It bought FindaProperty.com in 2004 and acquired Fastcorp, which also runs several property websites, a year later.
In 2006, it is understood to have paid £46.5m for five dating websites, including Loopylove.com and GirlsDateForFree.com, and later that year took a 62.5% stake in the motoring classified website Carsource.co.uk.
It owns the consumer website Simplyswitch, which it also bought in 2006. The website allows customers to compare rates for utilities, credit cards, telephone and broadband services and then switch to the cheapest or more suitable provider.
MediaVest, now part of Starcom Group, won the Associated media account in 1997. It handles the planning and buying across the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard and Metro newspapers.