Harrods to appoint ad agency roster

By Glen Mutel, Campaign, Friday, 19 August 2005 12:00AM

Harrods, the luxury department store, is looking to appoint a roster of agencies to handle a series of projects that will go live at the start of next year.

The department store has appointed Haystack Group to oversee the review.

While the appointments will initially be made on a project basis, Harrods claimed that it would be willing to work with the agencies on a more permanent basis if early relationships proved to be fruitful.

Harrods has been without a retained agency since M&C Saatchi resigned the account in March after only seven months, due to irreconcilable differences with the store.

This followed the postponement of an M&C-produced brand campaign. Harrods instead chose to promote its annual sale with a remake of an old Leagas Delaney ad, created in-house. Since then, the company has used Ogilvy & Mather for a poster project.

Peter Willasey, the director of corporate communications at Harrods, said: "We're looking for an agency, or agencies, with specific projects in mind for early next year. Our hope is that we will be able to identify a group of agencies with whom we can then produce partnerships."

The review will not affect Harrods' media account, which is held by PHD.

This article was first published on Campaign