Model agency to stage PR pitch

The firm, whose name stands for International Model Management, wants to hire an agency to promote both the IMM brand and individual clients, and will stage a pitch within a month.

The firm supplies topless models to the tabloids and has branched out into fields such as advertising commissions and pop videos.

IMM managing director Karsten Edwards said: ‘Glamour has never really had a good image… there are a lot of cowboys out there and we want to clean up the whole name of glamour.’

‘Topless work is about 15 to 20 per cent of our turnover but 90 per cent of our reputation. We want to change this perception,’ said Edwards.

But, pointing to the sales success of lads’ mags Zoo and Nuts, Edwards said: ‘The glamour industry hasn’t been this successful since the days of Sam Fox… Lucy and Michelle are fast-becoming household names.’

Edwards said he was ‘open to suggestions’ as to the size and scope of a PR contract but that he wants an agency experienced at targeting 18 to 30-year-old males.

He will first and foremost judge the PR firm’s success by the contribution it makes to IMM’s turnover and the number of bookings brought in.

IMM, which has a history dating back 23 years, bought rival Yvonne Paul last year. The Fulham-based operation has nine staff and expects a turnover in excess of £1.5m this year.

Edwards said he envisaged seeing pitches from ‘around eight to ten firms’. No agencies have yet been approached.