DIRECT: Open enlists Tequila in pounds 12m promotion drive

Open, the interactive TV service which launched on BSkyB last

month, has hired Tequila Payne Stracey to handle its below-the-line

activity.

Tequila will be responsible for all Open’s customer communications and

promotions, which will run in conjunction with the current ad campaign

through Ogilvy & Mather. The pounds 12m drive is being screened on

terrestrial and multi-channel TV.

Tequila’s direct marketing brief is expected to focus on creating more

tailored communications with Sky’s million-plus digital customers and

attracting new users at the point of sale.

Open launched in October with a direct marketing drive through Archibald

Ingall Stretton (AIS). That campaign focused on ads in Sky’s magazines

and broad direct mail campaigns.

However, Nick Mercer, marketing director of Open, said at the launch

that he would be parting company with AIS.

At the time, he said: ’We appointed AIS at the beginning of the year on

a launch project, but we agreed that our requirements were very

different, so we decided to look for a new agency.’

Mercer, who was unavailable for comment this week, is believed to have

chosen Tequila for its expertise across both sales promotion and direct

marketing disciplines.

Open is owned by a range of companies, including BSkyB, HSBC and

Matsushita.

Other partners include Argos, Iceland, Dixons and Somerfield. Services

available through Open include banking with HSBC and shopping through

high street retailer WH Smith.

Last week Open signed a deal with Flextech Interactive which will see

Flextech Television’s interactive division provide five new host zones

for a range of home shopping channels, including UKTV Shop and

SceneOne.

Flextech will support the services with advertising on its TV channels,

which include UK Gold and UK Arena.

This article was first published on Marketing