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Eurostar has parted company with St Luke’s and returned to the

creator of its controversial launch campaign, Young & Rubicam, pending a

European centralisation of its account some time next year.

’The medium-term strategy is to hold a pan-European pitch for an agency

with pan-European credentials,’ a spokesman confirmed.

Y&R was first hired in the UK to mastermind a massive advertising blitz

supporting the launch of the cross-channel rail service in 1994. But the

pounds 10 million account moved two years later to St Luke’s.

Since then, a major shakeup at Eurostar has resulted in a complete

change in marketing management in the UK and a corresponding shift

towards a more European approach to its advertising.

Pierre Louis Roy was promoted to take overall charge of communications

on a European basis earlier this year, and he is understood to be

planning a consolidation of his advertising accounts in the UK, France

and Belgium.

Y&R already handles Eurostar’s advertising in France and Belgium and

will look after the UK - the first of the three agency agreements to

expire - until a pan-European review next year. Ogilvy & Mather and

Publicis are also understood to have been in discussions with

Eurostar.

St Luke’s, which has no European network of its own, had already

declared that it would not repitch for the business if it came up for

review.

Toby Hoare, chief executive of Y&R London, said he had been very

disappointed to lose the business in 1996 and had kept it ’on our radar’

ever since.

’Whenever an agency wins back an account it’s a very rewarding

experience,’ he said.

Eurostar has had little consistency in its advertising. It began with

Y&R’s futuristic approach , then moved on to quirky humour with St

Luke’s first campaign fronted by Antoine de Caunes. This was followed by

a series of ads displaying the strapline: ’As if by magic, Paris

arrived.’ Its latest ads form part of a cartoon-style campaign

introducing the phrase: ’Let’s go conti-mental.’

The media planning and buying account remains with Manning Gottlieb

Media.