The contest for the £36 million Virgin Media account will be a fascinating one if the pitchlist is anything to go by. Adam & Eve, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Mother will fight it out against the incumbent, DDB UK, for the business.
It's not just the quality of the agencies that makes the list an intriguing one, though. Eagle-eyed readers will have no doubt spotted that Adam & Eve already works on Virgin Media's rival YouView, while BBH may also have a possible conflict, considering that it handles the ITV advertising account. A YouView spokeswoman said: "YouView remains on track to launch in early 2012 with Adam & Eve as our agency." Oystercatchers is handling the process.
It's not just Virgin Media that's keeping Oystercatchers busy. The intermediary is also handling the Sue Ryder ad review, which has reached shortlist stage. Beta, Meteorite, OgilvyOne, SFW and TMW will pitch for the business.
EDF's approach to a pitch process seems not dissimilar to the way it might negotiate with a nuclear reactor. The company sent out an RFI in its search for a digital agency - the document contained 156 questions, mostly concerned with the minutiae of health and safety. For example, it asks for the number of fatalities at the agency over the past four years. Ironically, grappling with such an involved questionnaire could present its own health risk to those with a low boredom threshold.
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