MPG secures £6m EDF media account

by Ian Quinn & Olivia Solon, Media Week 27-Mar-07, 09:00

LONDON - EDF Energy has appointed Media Planning Group to its £6m planning and buying account, and signed up as a sponsor of ITV's Rugby World Cup coverage.

Peugeot is also sponsoring the IRB Rugby World Cup 2007, which ITV is determined to make a success following last year's football World Cup advertising disaster.

The companies, both off-air sponsors of the event, will share joint TV backing as well as online and, for the first time, interactive sponsorship.

ITV holds exclusive UK TV rights to the World Cup, which kicks off at the Stade de France in Paris on 7 September. Its sales boss has admitted the firm reacted too late to events last year, when the football equivalent failed to hit ad revenue targets.

Gary Knight, brand partnerships director at ITV Customer Relations, said the signing of the sponsors was a "fantastic endorsement of ITV's high quality sports programming".

However, Gary Digby, managing director of the sales operation, admitted there was a major drive to maximise advertising revenue after the disappointment of last year's biggest sporting event in the world.

"There is a very different profile to rugby," he said. "The audience is much more AB and upmarket. We're now trying to get a steer from the market as to what the interest is.

"We don't want to get to September and find out that there's only five men's brands advertising. If we'd found out earlier about the football World Cup, we'd have been able to do something earlier.

"Our first concern will be to make sure that there's enough brands on.

Digby said ITV's new sales structure, with an increased focus on planning, would help its cause, but repeated an earlier warning: "Ultimately, if advertisers don't support these big sporting events then there isn't any point in us bidding," he added

Meanwhile, EDF has moved its planning and buying to MPG from Manning Gottlieb OMD. Marc Mendoza, managing partner at MPG, said: "It is a growing brand with some huge potential and some ambitious plans."