Media Playground 2010: COI review “was not just about getting cheaper prices”

The COI review which saw i-level lose the  government’s digital media account “was not just about getting cheaper prices”, Mark Cross, communications planning officer at the COI, told delegates at last week’s Media Playground 2010.

Cross said that the review, which involved “the top three or four players in the market place”, was not focused on cost cutting, calling it a “transformational pitch”.

I-level founder Andrew Walmsley, also on the panel in the ‘The Big Digital Debate’ session, emphasised though that specialist agencies still have a role to play.

“The industry is not better off without specialists, he said. “Businesses like i-level are fundamental to causing change.”

Starcom MediaVest Group and i-Level (under the name of Smile), Group M’s M4C and Aegis Media’s Carat and Posterscope all pitched for the COI account, with M4C the eventual winners.

The COI spent a total of £211 million on advertising last year – an increase of 35% on the previous financial year.

However, last month the new coalition government said that it is freezing its £540 million annual marketing budget to the end of March 2011.

Cross added that the review attempted to combat the challenges of “a constantly changing eco-system”.

“We’ve sought to address some of the gaps with the M4C agreement,” he said.