Domino's Pizza hires C&W on consumer comms brief

The appointment - made after a six-way pitch that began last year (PRWeek, 11 October 2002) - signals the end of a retained contract for WS, whose Manchester co-MD Jo Leah had handled PR work for Domino's Pizza for almost 15 years.

In addition to WS, Harrison Cowley, Lawson Dodd, Hill & Knowlton and Lexis PR also pitched for the contract.

Domino's Pizza head of PR and communications Bernadette Eddisford, who oversaw the repitch process, said: 'Our brand is streetwise and funky, but over the past couple of years most of our coverage has tended to be corporate. It's time to redress this balance.'

Domino's Pizza floated on the Alternative Investment Market in November 1999 and has used Buchanan Communications since then on a financial brief.

Both Buchanan and Lexis PR, which has been Domino's Pizza's retained corporate agency since October 2001, will remain unaffected by the C&W hire.

Eddisford said consumer PR work would focus on 'how the delivery service appeals to people's lifestyles'.

C&W marcoms division MD Ash Coleman-Smith leads a four-strong account team, reporting to Eddisford.

Soon after Domino's Pizza launched in the UK in 1985, it hired Leah's then-agency Lawson Leah. She retained the account when her agency was acquired by McCann Erickson - Weber Shandwick's parent company - in 1997 and WS has worked on the account since then.

Domino's Pizza was founded in the US in 1960. The chain opened its first UK outlet in Luton in 1985

The company's UK corporate headquarters are in Milton Keynes. It has production and distribution operations in Milton Keynes, Penrith and Naas in Ireland.