Media&Marketing: Advertising agencies are awaiting news of where the highly lucrative Unilever advertising account will go. The media buying and planning account is believed to be worth between €12-€18 million and is currently held by Initiative Media.

Across Europe, Unilever's advertising business is valued at about €810 million.

According to sources, Initiative, Mindshare and Carat Ireland are in the frame for the contract in Ireland. Along with the Proctor & Gamble account, the Unilever business is one of the most prestigious accounts in the market.

Initiative is the current holder and it is believed to be a significant contributor to that company's annual turnover. Whoever wins the account will have an important role in the TV advertising market because Unilever owns household brands such as Flora, Birds Eye, Hellmann's and Surf.

It is not clear at this stage whether Unilever will award the account on the basis of an Irish/British package, or whether it will treat the Irish and British markets separately.

Either way, it would be a major boost for Carat Ireland if it could secure the business.

According to accounts lodged with the Companies Office this week, its business appears to be in good financial shape. Turnover for 2003 was up from €65 million to €69 million, while operating profits rose from €1.9 million to €2.3 million. Profit after tax jumped from €1.6 million to €2 million.

The company is owned by London-based Aegis Group plc. According to the accounts, this company was paid a dividend of €2.7 million for the year, whereas in 2002 no dividend was paid.

While Carat is sometimes accused by its rivals of depending too much on low margins, the company's client base is strong.

Yesterday, its chief executive, Pat Donnelly, announced that it had acquired Lucid Communications for an undisclosed sum. Lucid has built a strong reputation for itself and its clients include Londis, Eagle Star, Right Price Tiles and An Post. It recently won the centralised planning and buying for Irish Distillers.

The move is part of the continuing trend of consolidation in the advertising industry, especially in the price-sensitive area of media buying and planning.

Rebrand for Clerys

Clerys department store on O'Connell Street is the latest retail business to undergo rebranding.

The new identity, to be launched next month, is being undertaken by Dublin design and advertising agency Creative Inc. As part of the brief, Clerys' traditional Dublin lamp-post logo will be altered.

A statement from the design company said: "Elements of the re-branding will be carried throughout the entire store and will be most visible through the store's point-of-sale stations, in-store graphics and signage, at street level with the window displays, on their bags, and in a wider context through their advertising."

A TV campaign is also planned in the run-up to Christmas.

Niall Corcorran, director of Creative Inc, said the main challenge would be to find the right balance between tradition and modernity.

"There is a certain responsibility that comes with working on a brand as well known as Clerys. The store really is a Dublin institution and, like the GPO or the Shelbourne Hotel, has become a part of its landscape," he said. The whole campaign is going to cost about €250,00, according to sources.

Aer Lingus review

US trade publications have reported this week that Aer Lingus is reviewing its multimillion-dollar US advertising account.

According to reports in New York, the Aer Lingus account held by the Tucker Partnership in New York is set to expire at the end of this year and Aer Lingus would like a new contract in place by December, according to sources.

In the US, Aer Lingus tends to concentrate on press advertising and the airline is aggressively marketing a set of transatlantic fares which it claims have virtually no restrictions.

More radio mooted

Entrepreneur Denis O'Brien has told the Department of Communications there could be room for another national radio station. At present, Today FM is the only national station outside the RTÉ stable.

But Mr O'Brien, in a response to the Ox report released earlier this year, says there has been little discussion about the issue since 1988.

Yesterday, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) invited applications for a new talk-based service in Dublin on the FM band. A spokeswoman for the BCI emphasised that service would have to be "special interest" in nature.