Tsunami auction raises £49,000

Marketing's client auction has raised £49,390 for survivors of the Asian tsunami.

A frenzied final hour of bidding before the auction ended last Friday brought in winning offers of £5010 for COI chief executive Alan Bishop and £5000 for Alexis Dormandy, chief marketing officer of Orange UK. Viacom Outdoor, meanwhile, bid £2750 for Ian Hunter, director of marketing at Boots. The winning agencies are entitled to a 40-minute meeting with their client.

Other popular bid targets were Matt Harrison, marketing director of Toyota (£2500), and Lorraine Twohill, Google's director of European marketing programmes (£2000).

All proceeds will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee's Tsunami Earthquake Appeal, which is channelling funds to all the main charities working in the affected areas.