Royal Mail Group has consolidated its direct marketing account – including consumer marketing and business division MarketReach – into Lida following a competitive pitch against Publicis Chemistry and Havas Helia.
In a winner takes all move, both Chemistry – which devised the original Mailmen activity – and Helia – which was only appointed in September last year – have been dropped from the company’s roster. Six other agencies – thought to include Tangible and Proximity London – will also lose out.
The appointment will ultimately reunite MarketReach boss Jonathan Harman with Lida creative chief Trefor Thomas, who worked together at RMG Connect (now JWT) for nearly three years, although Thomas does not start at Lida until June.
The agency’s relationship with Royal Mail Group begins immediately, with its first campaigns going live in May. Full responsibility will take effect once current campaigns have been executed by incumbent agencies.
Lida has been charged with leading the group’s strategy and creative work, developing a programme of activity that puts the customer at the heart of communications.
The M&C Saatchi-owned agency will be responsible for handling all direct and digital marketing as well as CRM and sales promotion, for all of Royal Mail Group’s range of services.
As well as MarketReach, these include Royal Mail Customer Marketing, Royal Mail Data Services, Royal Mail Parcels, Royal Mail Stamps and Collectibles, Royal Mail Consumer & Network Access and Parcelforce Worldwide.
Royal Mail director of customer marketing Ben Rhodes said: “We were all impressed by Lida’s vision for our group and how we need to transform our customer communications in this new world of relevance and personalisation.
“The agency stood out for its relentless focus on customer engagement and I’m looking forward to working together and harnessing that passion.”
Lida chairman Matthew Heath added: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Royal Mail, one of Britain’s most iconic businesses and we’re keen to get started and show the meaning of our worth on all of the businesses within the Group. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to deliver a seamless direct marketing strategy that focuses on highly personalised communications and experiences.”
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