Leith London has lost the £7 million Carling account to Beattie McGuinness McBungay resulting in the agency making five of its team in London redundant.
The final pitch came down to Euro RSCG, Beattie McGuinness Bungay, The Leith Agency and VCCP.
While Leith London didn’t repitch, The Leith Agency carried out the pitch from Edinburgh.
The Leith Agency’s managing director, Phil Adams, expressed disappointment at what he saw as a ‘lost opportunity’ for The Leith Agency and emphasised that the account was a loss for Leith London and would not affect Edinburgh.
“The only work that was carried out for Carling from Edinburgh was the responsible drinking campaign,” he said. “As far as this office is concerned, it’s a lost opportunity. Leith London is run as a separate team, with a separate management and growth plan. Coors is the only client that is common to the two offices, and was therefore able to make the comparison between the two. It’s not fundamental to the agency up here, and not a penny has dropped off my growth plan. Unfortunately we had to take steps to accommodate the loss of the account in London when we decided the Edinburgh agency would handle the pitch.”
The agency had held the Carling account for over five years when the review was called in December and in that time, the original client – a former Tennent’s marketer – has changed and there’s been turnover of staff in the London office. It is thought the continuity of key staff was a factor in the review.
The loss to Leith London will result in the redundancy of a creative team, two account handlers and a typographer. It leaves the agency with a staff of twenty, with no plans for more redundancies.
Adams emphasised that he was disappointed that the Edinburgh office didn’t win. “It is not that the Scottish industry isn’t capable of winning these kinds of accounts,” he said. “We did a very good pitch, as did BMB, which you just can’t legislate for in a pitch.”
The agency won the brand through its relationship with Tennent’s Lager, when both were owned by Bass. Following Carling’s acquisition by Coors The Leith Agency was forced to resign one, and chose Carling over Tennent’s.