Campaign

15 December 2006

Direct Agency of the Year 2006

Winning the high-profile Virgin Media launch account was a massive coup for Rapier, and was the victory that elevated this agency above its rivals.

Rapier built on last year's success with another formidable new-business performance. Combined with some high-profile, ideas-driven creative, this helped it secure the accolade of Campaign's Direct Agency of the Year for the second year running. Although the competition was fierce, few will begrudge Rapier this honour.

In succeeding, Rapier elevated the status of direct response communications, as well as forcing the thorny issue over whether or not non-ad agencies should take lead status on accounts back into the spotlight.

Its new-business billings topped £45 million in 2006 (more than double that of its nearest rival), taking its total billings to £216 million.

The creative partner John Townshend's mission to create first-class direct response advertising is a powerful tool in the agency's new-business armoury, as are the persuasive arguments of the chief executive, Jonathan Stead.

Rapier kicked off the year winning the substantial £7 million Digital UK account in a shoot-out against Proximity London. It went on to secure the online business for smart to add to the DM account it already handled. It got down to the final two in the high-profile Abbey credit cards pitch, but was pipped to the post by Archibald Ingall Stretton. However, this blow was softened when Rapier trounced DraftFCB, Claydon Heeley and the incumbent, Tequila\London, to the £14.5 million PruHealth brief. It was then awarded the £4 million direct marketing task for the Co-operative Society without a pitch.

The continued success meant Rapier added 22 staff, bringing its total number of employees to 108. But the company also invested in its existing staff. It offered those with more than two years' tenure at the company share options. This perk was in addition to the day off every member of staff gets on their birthday and the half-day they are allowed to take for Christmas shopping.

Among the agency's most high-profile appointments was John Hatfield, who joined from EHS Brann, to head its digital offering at a time when there are too few talented digital experts to fill the senior jobs. In July, the creative director, David Prideaux, hired one of the hottest creative duos in the UK market: Sarah Richards and Ross Newton from Partners Andrews Aldridge. This strengthened what was an already impressive creative department, which boasts the likes of the DM art director heavyweight Steve Broadhurst.

This extra creative firepower meant that Rapier's work remained strong. The integrated Telewest brand campaign that the agency developed last year, featuring the brand icon Ellie West, continued throughout the year, and the agency scooped a Campaign Direct Silver award for its "Telewest Error Letter".

For its long-standing client, the AA, Rapier developed a high-profile direct response television campaign, featuring "the AA team", to promote how much money its customers could save on car insurance.

The agency also extended its campaign for South-Eastern Trains, which encourages the public to travel to British tourist attractions by train. The highlight of the campaign was the door-drops - cardboard masks of historical figures from top attractions that double up as leaflets. A mask in the shape of a skull related to the London Dungeon, and the head of an Archbishop was used to promote Canterbury Cathedral.

For ntl, which it won at the end of 2005, Rapier turned around a funny through-the-line campaign pointing out the benefits of cable. It ran with the line: "If you could, you should."

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