COI overhauls £148m planning roster

Ian Darby, Campaign 17-Feb-06

COI has completed the review of its £148 million communications planning roster, selecting a total of 14 agencies for the final list.

Seven agencies have been added to the new roster. They join the seven
that were on the previous roster, which was compiled in 2000.

The new agencies are BLM Media, Carat, Experience, MediaCom, MindShare,

Rise Communications and Universal McCann.

The seven agencies that have been reappointed to the COI roster are
Manning Gottlieb OMD, Mediaedge:cia, Starcom, Naked Communications, PHD,
ZenithOptimedia and Ingram.

COI claimed the enlarged roster would give government departments
greater choice. Jeremy Found, COI's head of media, said: "The new roster
gives us access to a range of agencies, from the largest through to the
specialist communications planning agencies, to suit the diverse range
of government campaigns."

Communications planning assignments are usually allocated by COI
following a pitch. Often, COI will pair a media agency with a creative
agency from its roster.

COI finalised its media buying arrangements last week when it appointed
Carat to handle its cinema buying business. Carat also handles
television buying for COI, while MediaCom manages press buying and
Starcom radio buying.

The government body also revamped its creative and direct marketing
rosters to reflect changes in the agency landscape.