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Eurotunnel has appointed BMP OMD to handle its pounds 3.5 million

UK media account following a three-way pitch against Universal McCann

and MindShare.

The cross-Channel operator put its media up for review last November

after its existing contracts with Carat in the UK and Optimum Media

Direction in Europe expired. A decision has still to be taken on

Eurotunnel’s pan-European account outside the UK.

Peter Stratton, Eurotunnel’s UK marketing and sales director, said: ’We

wanted to see if we could have a cross-border package with one

agency.

Ultimately BMP OMD was the group which we were more than satisfied with

in the UK, but it is not to say that it will not also be invited to

manage Europe again. We are still reviewing how we will proceed in

continental Europe.’ A decision is expected shortly.

BMP OMD will take up the appointment immediately. Mark Palmer, the

agency’s head of communication strategy and deputy managing director,

said: ’This is a fabulous product which has recently rebranded. It is a

dynamic time in the development of both the market and Eurotunnel’s

communications solution.’

Stratton said that the UK would benefit from around 75 per cent of the

pounds 5 million pan-European adspend over the next year.

He added: ’We are moving away from traditional TV, poster and press

campaigns. We are pretty well established now and have a huge loyalty

base. BMP seemed to have grasped that we need opportunities for

alternative media and the direct management of our business.’

BMP OMD will work on the business with Ogilvy & Mather, which was

appointed last August to handle Eurotunnel’s strategic communications

across Europe after the company decided to drop its Le Shuttle

brand.

This week Eurotunnel announced that it had trebled its operating profits

from pounds 57 million to pounds 184 million in 1998, with turnover up

26 per cent to pounds 666 million.