The loss leaves Interpublic Group of Companies agency Lowe with the work for three models including the Vectra, the launch of the Signum next year and the vans business. It has already lost the £16m Corsa account and the £7m Astra account to Delaney Lund, which also won a pitch against Lowe for the new small family-car model, the Agila.
Lowe has suffered a string of account losses during 2002, with the £10m Burger King account moving (also to Delaney Lund) and the loss of the £43m Orange account to Mother, which resulted in 23 staff being laid off from the agency.
Sister agency Lowe Broadway, the marketing services specialist, is also facing the prospect of losing the £15m account for Vauxhall Retail, again in a pitch against Delaney Lund.
The Meriva will be launched with a multimillion-pound campaign. It is a multi-person vehicle extension of the popular Corsa model.
Vauxhall was not available for comment at the time of writing.
However, Vauxhall marketing communications manager Patrick Dunster has previously denied that it is moving accounts out of Lowe because it is unhappy with the creative work. When the Astra work moved to Delaney Lund, he said: "We did it because we wanted to expand the creative talent available to us. It's not a question of not being happy."
Media for Vauxhall is handled by Initiative Media, another Interpublic agency, and has not been affected by changes to the creative account.
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