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Booth Lockett Makin has picked up the media planning and buying for estate agent Hamptons International without a pitch.

Hamptons is fighting to retain its share in the house buying market against online players. It faces fierce competition from start-ups such as Easier.co.uk, which threa-ten to drive traditional estate agents out of business.

Hamptons is planning an above the line brand campaign to boost traffic to its website Hamptons-.co.uk which it plans to develop over the coming months.

Although no spend figure was available, it is understood that Hamptons is budgeting up to £4 million for the next three months alone.

BLM will initially focus on radio activity in March, with more multi-media work expected as the website develops new features.

“It was the reputation of Hamptons International as an innovator in property search, the strength of the e-commerce proposition and the forward-looking nature of their marketing that made this an ideal partnership for us,” said Ian Clark, media director at BLM.

Carolyn Routley, associate director of marketing at Hamptons, said BLM was appointed because of its “experience of BLM in handling e-commerce brands and the ability to move quickly and intelligently on media decisions”.