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Managing director Sally de la Bedoyere, who ran the pitch process, selected Partners BDDH to the £2.5m task after also seeing Fallon, Heresy and Mustoe Merriman Levy.

The agency will now create a campaign to win back readers after a 3.5% slump in sales over the past year. The Standard particularly wants to appeal to 18- to 34-year-old women who appear to be deserting the London paper in their droves.

The Standard has used Bates UK for its advertising since late 1999, but De la Bedoyere is understood to have favoured a smaller agency. The brief is thought to be promotions-led.

Wadley replaced Max Hastings as editor of the London daily at the beginning of the year. Previously deputy editor of sister title the Daily Mail, Wadley has already made changes to the Standard's editorial, including an extensive revamp of its arts coverage.

In February, the Standard made marketing director Jane Hayman redundant (Marketing, Feb 13). She has not been replaced.

ABC figures for the six months to April, revealed a 3.5% slump in circulation year-on-year and and an 8% drop since the same period in 1998.

The paper's last major ad campaign was in September. The TV-led approach used the strapline 'It's all in the Standard' and the 'newspaper world' branding concept, which depicted an animated black and white London.

COMMENT

Emerging out of the shadow of the charismatic Max Hastings, new editor Veronica Wadley is gradually stamping her personality on London's main daily newspaper.

Her experience at the Daily Mail stands her in good stead to win back the lucrative demographic of young working women.

The wider advertising brief could be a tough one, however. The paper's audience is extremely diverse and a promotions-led approach will prove highly work-intensive.