Grey grabs ú8m Nynex account

Grey Communications Group has won the ú8m Nynex account, beating competition from Chiat Day and Teamworks, the cable TV and telecoms giant’s incumbent agency.

A decision was made last Thursday, and Grey is now preparing a campaign, which is due to break in early February, according to Nynex head of market communications Jill Rudolph.

Ogilvy & Mather and McCann-Erickson are also understood to have been in the running but both agencies withdrew before the final pitch, which took place just before Christmas.

“The initial brief is for an above-the-line campaign but we also expect there to be a significant amount of direct marketing,” Rudolph adds. She would not comment further on the precise nature of the brief.

Grey group chairman and chief executive Roger Edwards says the business was won through the combined services offered by Grey London, Mediacom and below-the-line division Grey Integrated.

“The initial task is to get people to become connected, probably through the telephony side first,” he says.

Nynex began initial discussions with agencies last autumn, (MW September 16). The US-owned group is one of the UK’s two largest cable companies along with Telewest. It holds 15 UK cable franchises.

Although cable TV is driving the volume of the company’s business, telephony is the greater revenue earner. Nynex already owns five telephone exchanges in southern England.