Virgin Trains calls review

by Noel Bussey, Campaign 07-Mar-08

Train operator's advertising, direct marketing and digital accounts up for grabs.

Virgin Trains is gearing up for a review of its advertising, direct
marketing and online accounts.

The company has yet to begin contacting agencies, but is expected to
post a notice on the OJEC website within the next two weeks.

The biggest portion of the business is the £6 million advertising

account handled by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, which the agency
has held for more than ten years.

It is the first full pitch the train operator has run since its launch
in 1997, when it won the InterCity franchises of the Cross Country and
West Coast trainlines.

The digital element of the business has been handled by glue London
since 2000. Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel picked up the DM in the
same year after Virgin Trains parted company with HPT Brand
Response.

It is unclear if the review will include media duties, which are
currently handled by Manning Gottlieb OMD.

The review follows last November's departure of Virgin Trains' sales and
marketing director, Craig Inglis, who had been at the company since its
launch. Sarah Copley, who has been at the company for six years,
replaced him.

Inglis' decision to leave followed the train operator's unsuccessful bid
to retain its hold on the InterCity Cross Country franchise in July last
year. The business moved to Arriva, leaving Virgin Trains with just the
West Country line.

Before this, the company had also attempted to secure the franchise for
the East Coast line, which was eventually awarded to National Express.
Both failures led to a reduction in the company's marketing budget.

The train operator had been famous for investing in high-profile
advertising campaigns, including 2005's "return of the train", created
by RKCR/Y&R.

The ad mixed footage from old films, such as Some Like It Hot and The
Railway Children, with modern day shots of Virgin's Pendelino train.