Marketing

12 December 2007

Direct Agency of the Year - Best of the Rest

The judges felt that last year's runner-up, Rapier, should not go without a mention in a round-up of the best of the UK's direct marketing industry. Early in the year, the agency lost out to OgilvyOne for the British Gas direct account, but was soon celebrating its win in the biggest direct marketing pitch of the year, for the Lloyds TSB business.

Rapier can also count The Co-operative Group, MessageLabs and the COI among its significant account wins this year. As a result of these, the agency's total billings rose from £216m in 2006 to £272.5m.

Its headcount rose by 32 to accommodate the new clients, including the senior appointments of Andrew Fraser as executive creative director, Bill Griffin as strategy planner and Matt Harris as head of data planning.

The agency was also responsible for the integrated campaign supporting the launch of Virgin Media, which featured a series of ads starring Hollywood actress Uma Thurman.

Finally, on its green credentials, Rapier seeks to work solely with 'carbon-neutral' suppliers, recycles all its paper, uses Fairtrade products wherever possible and donates a percentage of its profits to charity.

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