±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The Dixons Group retailer has appointed brand consultancy Circus to identify its personality and research how it can differentiate its brand experience.

Over the next three months, research findings will be fed into M&C Saatchi, which handles advertising for all Dixons Group brands, which include PC World and The Link.

Currys plans to attract a greater share of the female market, and will target women with its summer advertising, supported by a "significantly increased" budget.

Currys assistant managing director Peter Keenan said: "We need to be more consumer-focused and in the past we didn't exploit the opportunity to resonate with female consumers."

Circus partner Katherine Atkin said that Currys would use its work to "inform future initiatives such as retail environment, staff training, recruitment and communications".

Core brand elements, such as the Currys logo, will be unaffected by the review.

The retailer intends to build on the success of its recent Linda Barker ads by increasing its TV spend, backed by press, in-store work and catalogue activity.

Currys claims the ads featuring the Changing Rooms star, who shot to fame in last year's I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, form part of its most effective campaign to date. It has recorded a 12% increase in footfall and 46% consumer ad awareness since the campaign broke in August 2003.

However, the ad featuring Barker was ranked the third-most annoying of last year in Marketing's Most irritating ads of the year. Currys polled 38% of the vote, beaten only by Specsavers and 118 888, which scooped the accolade with 60% of the vote (Marketing, January 8).

Currys' adspend last year was £28.5m, according to Nielsen Media Research.