DoH reviews tobacco ads after 20 years with AMV

by Samuel Solley, Marketing 02-Nov-05

The Department of Health (DoH) is reviewing the £25m advertising business for its anti-smoking campaign, which has been held by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO for 20 years.

COI Communications is to oversee the review, with creative, media and
direct agency teams collaborating for the business. The shortlist
comprises: AMV BBDO with PHD and Craik Jones; Bartle Bogle Hegarty,

Manning Gottlieb OMD and WWAV Rapp Collins; MCBD, Mediaedge:CIA and

Kittcat Nohr; DDB London, ZenithOptimedia and Chemistry; and Farm, Naked
and Personal. The pitch, due to start in December, is part of a
statutory review held every five years.

The DoH's recent anti-smoking work was overshadowed by shock ads from
the British Heart Foundation, which showed cigarettes oozing a fat-like
substance.

The DoH's last anti-smoking activity was the 'Finger legs' campaign,
which highlighted the impotency problems associated with smoking.