Blinkbox in talks with agencies after split with Shine

The company is in closed talks with three agencies and is set to part ways with incumbent Shine.

The brief is understood to cover trade and consumer press office support as well as story and content generation.

Shine, which was appointed in 2011, has not been invited to repitch.

Blinkbox engaged Taylor Herring and Hope&Glory PR for a range of project work in November last year.

The account review comes after the 80% Tesco-owned company posted strong results in a growing but highly competitive market that includes players such as US giant Netflix, Amazon-owned LoveFilm, Sky's Now TV and Sainsbury's in partnership with Rovi.

Blinkbox revealed a 180 per cent rise in sales via mobile devices from November to December last year, and an overall sales increase of 220 per cent year on year.

Ben Ayers, head of PR at Blinkbox, joined from media agency Carat in August where he was social strategy director.

Stating that he was not looking to talk to any more agencies about the review, he said: ‘We’re looking to more closely align PR with owned media which includes our on-site editorial, social media and CRM activity. To date, the different areas have operated in parallel rather than in an integrated way. All four are concerned with telling stories – either about Blinkbox, or about the world in which we exist as a service, and so should work hard to complement one another.

‘We are looking for a partner able to operate according to that framework, with an instinct for newsworthy communications and an understanding of content people want to share.’

The winning agency will work closely with Blinkbox’s content team and partner agencies arena and Karmarama, which conceived the current 'Blinkbox to the Rescue' ads.

This article was first published on prweek.com