Manning Gottlieb OMD takes combined Virgin and NTL/Telewest media brief

LONDON - Manning Gottlieb OMD is set to take the £23m combined Virgin Mobile and NTL/Telewest media accounts a little more than a month after the merger of the two telecom groups.

Group marketing director James Kydd decided to consolidate the entire brief into the Omnicom-owned agency.

The decision to cut incumbent Mediaedge:cia from the combined Â£17m NTL/Telewest media account comes a month after the merger between Virgin Mobile and NTL/Telewest.

MG/OMD's Virgin mobile account is estimated to be worth £6m in the UK, while Telewest spends approximately £15m and NTL £2m.  

The two brands will continue to operate as separate entities until early 2007, when they will start marketing under the Virgin brand. The new-media strategy for the brands will now be handled by MG/OMD, with Mediaedge:cia expected to give three months notice on the account.

The NTL account has been with the WPP-owned agency for less than two months. NTL and Telewest merged last October.

Mediaedge:cia had already handled the Telewest media planning and buying business, and were handed the NTL business in June. The NTL account was previously with WWAV Rapp Collins, which had focused on a direct response brief.

The deal between Virgin Mobile and NTL/Telewest means that the merged company will now combine services to offer customers what has been dubbed a 'quadruple-play' of television, internet, mobile and landline services.

MG/OMD, Mediaedge:cia and Virgin Mobile were not available for comment.

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