Zenith Media has resigned the pounds 4 million Wimpey Homes media
account - just one year after picking up the centralised business.
Graham Duff, the joint managing director of Zenith, confirmed the move
and cited ‘financial reasons’ as the main factor for the split.
The agency is understood to have been unhappy with both the levels and
timing of its payments.
The client is understood to have already held exploratory talks with a
number of other agencies, including CIA Medianetwork and Universal
McCann, about handling its business. Sources suggest the business will
move without a pitch.
Zenith picked up the account at the end of 1995, following a competitive
pitch against the other incumbents, the Manchester-based Stowe Bowden
Wilson, McCann-Erickson Central in Solihull and the Morgan Partnership
in Scotland (Campaign, 15 December 1995).
Zenith’s appointment followed deliberations by the client over the pros
and cons of centralising its media.
The creative for Wimpey Homes is divided between Zenith’s sister
Cordiant agency, Team Saatchi, and the creative arms of the former media
incumbents. These arrangements are unaffected by Zenith’s resignation.
The approach to Universal and CIA stems from the connections both media
specialists have with the creative roster shops. Universal is the media
dependant of McCanns, while CIA has a joint venture, CIA Morgan, with
the Morgan Partnership in Glasgow.
Wimpey Homes is the UK’s largest house builder and spends the bulk of
its budget in the regional press, although it has also used TV and radio
this year.
Zenith’s appointment to the business was seen as a welcome boost to its
regional press buying department, after the departure of Roy Jeans, the
general manager.
