It comes at a bad time for the agency, which looks set to lose the Woolworth's account it has held for 17 years. It recently lost in a pitch for a slice of the Sky business and faces the prospect of seeing its Wella haircare account disappear, because the brand is been bought by Procter & Gamble.
Grey Worldwide London follows a streak of pitch wins by making the Royal Mail shortlist, along with below-the-line sister agency Joshua, joining M&C Saatchi, Saatchi Village and Lida; Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Proximity London and Wolff Olins; and J Walter Thompson, OgilvyOne and Landor.
Royal Mail is reported to hope it can appoint one holding company group to handle all its advertising and direct marketing activity together, and present it with a solution that can work across all disciplines and be used by every outfit on its roster.
It launched the review process in the last week of February, examining more than 30 of its agency contracts, including those held by Bates, Joshua, Proximity and OgilvyOne. The only business not affected is the media planning and buying account, which is held by Carat. It hopes to complete the review by May.
Bates has worked for the Royal Mail for eight years, and created a series of consumer-focused work, including the "I saw this and thought of you" campaign, and an ad starring Sir Elton John, which played upon the musician's legendary penchant for extravagant shopping sprees.
Paul Troy, head of marketing at Royal Mail, told ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 magazine: "Our focus has shifted. From now on, customers will feature in our advertising in that we will show them as recipients. But the bulk of our revenue comes from business, and this has to be reflected in our marketing spend."
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