Silentnight seeks ad agency after split with MWO

by James Quilter, Marketing 25-May-05, 11:58

Silentnight has parted company with its advertising agency, Mortimer Whittaker O'Sullivan.

MWO, which has handled the £2m business for five years, said it had resigned the account because of a lack of clarity over the direction of the bed manufacturer's advertising.

However, Silentnight marketing controller Clive Whittaker said neither managing director Neil Mernock nor group marketing director Julie Leivers had been contacted by the agency.

Whittaker confirmed a pitch was under way, but would not say whether MWO was involved. He said the agency had served Silentnight well, but had been struggling to create its latest campaign.

MWO said confusion over advertising requirements had led to the production of a 'large amount of work' that never ran.

During MWO's tenure on the Silentnight account, it produced the 'hippo and duck' campaign, which helped increase sales by about 15%.

Silentnight's next ad campaign will be the first work produced by an agency for Leivers since she joined last year from GlaxoSmithKline Beecham.