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HarperCollins, the book publisher, is set to review its

advertising account, currently at Young and Rubicam, and is assembling

a pitch-list of likely agencies.

Y&R picked up the pounds 2 million business almost two years ago, but

HarperCollins is understood to be seeking a new type of agency

relationship.

Because of its erratic creative needs - only a handful of major titles

get full advertising support each year - the publisher is considering

hiring a media partner and using a creative agency on a

project-by-project basis.

Mediapolis, which handles the media for Y&R’s full-service clients,

inherited the HarperCollins media planning and buying business when it

launched last year.

Now HarperCollins is preparing a list of candidates for the media

account, expected to be worth at least pounds 2 million in the coming

year.

Last year, it spent just under pounds 2 million, according to

Register-MEAL, across its two divisions - the main HarperCollins

operation and Flamingo Books. Around pounds 200,000 went on the launch

of Martin Amis’s the Information, while slightly less was spent on

Jeffrey Archer’s the Fourth Estate.

Most of the company’s media spend traditionally goes on posters,

national press and monthly magazines. But last year it experimented

with joint advertising deals with Tesco and Dillons.

Toby Hoare, the chief executive of Y&R, declined to comment.