Weber Shandwick North (WSN) and McCann Manchester (MM) are celebrating a huge win after being handed the Liverpool ONE PR and advertising accounts for the retail and leisure destination, with a marketing budget estimated to be worth £1.5m.
The agencies won the business following a four stage pitch process this summer. Their remit is to revitalise the brand and regenerate interest among would-be visitors, focusing predominantly on overcoming misconceptions across the brand’s secondary catchment area - Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and North/West Lancashire - and positioning the brand as one of Europe’s leading leisure and retail destinations.
The agencies will start work in September to deliver an integrated marketing campaign working with four year incumbent Media Vest.
Liverpool ONE Marketing Director, Donna Howitt, said: “The pitch process has been extremely insightful. Both agencies understood our brief from the outset, they weren’t afraid to challenge us and they clearly demonstrated quality and depth of knowledge in every element of the pitch from insights and planning, right through to the creative ideas and execution.”
The PR account will be led by consumer account director, Hayley Corbett, who will work alongside managing director (MD), Jo Leah, on strategy and planning.
WSN MD, Jo Leah, said: “We are very pleased to be back in Liverpool working for such a prestigious destination and can’t wait to start our campaign, which has exciting new ideas that will take Liverpool ONE to new audiences in new markets.”
WSN previously worked for Capital of Culture in 2005 generating over £3m worth of coverage across the world.
MM managing partner, Dave Donaghue, will lead an account team of 11 people at MM who will deliver an integrated creative campaign.
Dave said: “In the pitch, we challenged the Liverpool ONE team to explore ideas they’d never thought of before.
“They liked that and its one of the reasons we’re looking forward to working with them. The chemistry is there and that’s pretty exciting for everyone involved.”
MM, based in Prestbury, is the UK’s largest fully integrated marketing communications agency outside London, with departments working across creative, digital, media planning and buying, insight, social media and data.
Both agencies sit within the Interpublic Group, a global marketing provider, however pitched for the advertising and PR accounts separately.
Neil Woods, Merseyside around 7 months ago