NEWS: Quantel seeks agency for pan-European campaign

Special effects software manufacturer Quantel is looking to hire a pan

European PR agency for the first time to raise its corporate profile in

an increasingly competitive market.

The company, which is a subsidiary of Carlton Communications and

produces graphics and special effects equipment for TV, video and print

advertising, is known to have approached three hi-tech specialist

agencies to handle an estimated six-figure account.

‘We have a better story to tell at Quantel than is generally known at

the moment,’ claimed head of publicity Roger Thornton. ‘We want to match

our company profile to the high reputation our products have in the

marketplace.’

He added that the winning agency would be expected to devise new PR

campaigns targeted at Quantel’s key markets in the TV, film and printing

industries, focusing in particular on the UK, France, Germany and

Scandinavia.

Thorton declined to give details of agency fees, but conceded that

Quantel was prepared to commit a large slice of its income to pay for a

PR programme. ‘If you pay peanuts you get monkeys,’ he said, ‘and I

don’t want monkeys.’

The company already has an in-house marketing and public relations team

of eight, which will continue to handle a range of corporate activities,

including advertising, events and brochure production.

Quantel, which exports around 80 per cent of its products and makes the

Paintbox imaging system, is facing increasing competition from rivals

such as Avid Technology and Discreet Logic, which created the special

effects software for the movies Apollo 13 and Batman Forever.