D’Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles has been appointed to handle the launch
of a joint venture between Texaco and Calor Gas, which will take
advantage of deregulation in the domestic gas market next April.
Ewan McConnell, sales and marketing director of Calor Gas, said: ‘This
will be a major consumer launch and we will face tough competition from
British Gas as well as from other rivals.’
DMB&B’s below-the-line arm, IMP, will initially be working closely with
DMB&B on the project, using below-the-line work to inform potential
customers of the service. Trials are set to launch in Devon, Cornwall
and Somerset, with full national deregulation expected by April 1998.
An above-the-line campaign is planned for the end of this year using a
budget that McConnell describes as ‘ample for the task’.
John Farrell, the group chairman of DMB&B, commented: ‘It is an exciting
opportunity to market this new company in a marketplace which has been
dominated by one large player.’