Direct mail from Big for HHH.

The agencies handling the advertising and media for insurance services company Hill House Hammond are resigned to losing their accounts, after the decision was made to close the brand and move the business into parent company Norwich Union.
Big Communications and Bristol-based CBLM are the incumbent agencies for the advertising and media accounts respectively. Big has been working with Hill House Hammond for the last three years, producing a number of above-the-line campaigns and supporting the brand.
Mark Firth, joint creative director and co-founder of Big, confirmed the agency is disappointed by the decision, but claims they have not been hit hard, as many have speculated. “From our perspective, it is a shame,” Firth remarked. “We’ve enjoyed a long relationship with them and have produced some nice work, but the marketing activity was reducing.
“Last year we produced a TV commercial about their ‘personal service’. It was run, but there was a lot of stuff being put on hold and now they’ve undergone this management restructure and moved the business into Norwich Union.”
The marketing budget for Hill House Hammond was believed to be in the region of £5 million, but Firth added: “The account’s certainly not as big as suggested so, while it is a shame, it’s not going to hurt the agency to any great extent.”
Firth also announced that Big’s relationship with the client would continue until the changes had been completed. A fate shared by media independents, CBLM. Robert Clilverd, the agency’s chief executive officer, stated: “We’ve got plans to do bits and pieces with them between now and when the business finally closes, but then that’s it.”
Clilverd was also keen to play down the impact the loss could have on the agency. “It’s not a major loss – they’ve been doing considerably less and less over the last year or so, and I guess now we know why,” he added.
Norwich Union, which bought the firm in 1991, is also expected to make up to 20 marketing staff redundant as part of the restructure, including Hill House Hammond’s sales, marketing and business development director, Peter Barham, whose future with the firm has yet to be confirmed.