Following a creative and media planning and buying agency review, B&Q has appointed Karmarama to handle its creative work and MEC to manage its £38 million media planning and buying business.
The review forms part of parent company Kingfisher’s Creating the Leader Strategy. The aim of appointing a new agency is to allow B&Q to work more efficiently by creating a more joined up media platform across the Kingfisher UK brands, which include TradePoint and Screwfix.
McCann Erickson, who previously handled B&Q’s creative account, stepped down from the review process last month. B&Q’s creative agency support will now be handled by Karmarama.
Upon hearing the news, Nicola Mendelsohn, executive chairman at Karmarama said: “We are ecstatic to have been appointed by B&Q. They have exciting plans for the business and we're thrilled to work with such an ambitious partner.”
After a pitch process which included the imcumbent agencies Zenith Optimedia and MEC Global, B&Q awarded its media planning and buying account to MEC.
MEC CEO Steve Hatch added: “We’re delighted that after such a thorough process Kingfisher have asked us to join the team and work with an incredible brand in B&Q, and we’re looking forward to bringing all our ideas, digital expertise and passion to bear on their big marketing ambitions.”
David Hutchinson, marketing director for B&Q, commented: “We have some ambitious challenges at B&Q to become more efficient and more customer focused and our marketing communications need to reflect this.
"We believe our new agency appointments will be the right partners on our journey of helping our customers improve their homes. We would like to thank both McCann Erickson and Zenith Optimedia for their contributions."