Tango awards advertising account to Clemmow Hornby Inge

Clemmow Hornby Inge will work on a brief to win back market share in the face of rivals such as Coca-Cola's Fanta and energy drinks like Red Bull. Despite outspending Fanta on promotions, sales of Tango were down 17% in the year to April 2001 according to ACNielsen.

The appointment brings to an end Tango's 10-year relationship with HHCL & Partners, during which time the agency made controversial advertising a trademark of the Tango brand. In 1991, HHCL created TV ads carrying the catchy strapline "you know when you've been Tango'd".

It went on to develop the off-the-wall theme with ads featuring an orange genie slapping passersby's ears and middle-aged men shouting into a fat boy's ears with megaphones. Both ads came under fire from the Independent Television Commission and had to be withdrawn.

Tango has suffered from competitors imitating its creative approach with Fanta copying the "orange" theme in its campaign using the strapline "why can't everything orange taste like Fanta?". And, as well as increased competition from the energy drinks sector, Tango has also had to fight for shelf-space against a host of mineral water brands.

Clemmow Hornby Inge won the business following a pitch through Agency Insight. In addition to HHCL, Delaney Lund Knox Warren (DLKW) and TBWA\London also pitched for the business.

The loss is a blow to HHCL which has lost a string of high-profile brands in the last year such as online bank Egg to Mother and its founding account, the AA, to M&C Saatchi. However, despite shifting Tango out of HHCL, the agency still holds sister-brand Robinson's. By contrast, Clemmow Hornby's win comes hot on the heels of a raft of big brands such as The Daily Telegraph and Carphone Warehouse.

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This article was first published on Marketing