Desmond picks BMB for OK!'s £7m US launch ads

by Lucy Barrett, Marketing 26-Jul-05, 08:30

LONDON - Richard Desmond, the owner of Express Newspapers and Northern & Shell, has appointed Trevor Beattie's start-up agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB) to handle a £7m ad campaign for the launch of celebrity magazine OK! in the US.

The launch is being touted as the biggest in US publishing history; Desmond claims he has committed a $100m (£57m) budget to the launch, part of which will see BMB create television, press and poster advertising for use across the US.

Beattie, who is credited with creating some of the UK's best-known poster ads, such as the Wonderbra "Hello Boys" and French Connection "FCUK" campaigns, has developed the OK! activity.

It will have the tagline "Avoid Dull People" in a slight on Time Warner-owned People, the biggest-selling celebrity magazine in the US, with a weekly circulation of between 3.5m and 4m.

The poster will be erected in New York's Times Square, one of the most expensive outdoor advertising sites in the world.

BMB claims the ads are already causing problems in the US, with one advertising trade magazine refusing to run it for fear of reprisal from Time Warner.

A new ad was created, "Some People Have No Sense of Humor", which has been declined by US title Adweek.

Desmond and N&S head of international licensing Christian Toksvig appointed the agency after seeing pitches from three other undisclosed agencies.

Martin Bowley, the former chief executive of Carlton TV, was recently hired by N&S to work as a temporary consultant, with a brief to bring in advertisers to the new magazine.

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