Moneysupermarket offers CRM brief

Price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com is understood to be seeking an agency to handle a CRM brief, with a view to making a permanent appointment.
It is believed the search, which is in the early stages, is being spearheaded by marketing director Kenny Jacobs, who joined the company from Tesco late last year.
Once the domain of direct and digital agencies, ad agencies are increasingly moving into the sector. Last month, Lastminute.com appointed JWT to handle its account. Mother handles Moneysupermarket’s advertising activity, while CRM is currently handled in-house.
Last month, Comparethemarket.com divided up its CRM business, handing the creative side of the account to Lida and the customer data account to Rapp.
Founded in 1993 as an offline mortgage information business by entrepreneur Simon Nixon, Moneysupermarket opened its website in 1999 and was listed in 2007; then the biggest initial public offering for an internet firm since Google in 2004.
Last year’s impressive growth – of 15% – has slowed in recent months, with chief executive Peter Plumb citing the Government’s Funding for Lending scheme which is driving interest rates down, meaning fewer people are shopping around for savings.
The company is also being squeezed by Google launching its own price comparison service, piling additional pressure on Moneysupermarket, as well as competitors such as Confused.com and Comparethemarket.
Moneysupermarket is also running a separate review through AAR for a user-experience agency to revamp its website, while looking for a new agency to handle experiential work.