Karmarama dropped out of the statutory review yesterday for the BBC's creative account, which is looking more lucrative than ever before following the recent ambitious BBC Music ad (created by Karmarama) featuring a host of celebrated artists covering the Beach Boys classic “God Only Knows.” The other incumbent RKCR/Y&R, BBH, AMV, Saatchi & Saatchi and W+K are the five notable agencies remaining in the fraught fight for the broadcaster's account, with the above agencies recently attending a meeting with the BBC to discuss the brief, which partly focuses on the proposed renewal of the corporation's Royal Charter in 2016.
The five remaining agencies recently attended a meeting with the BBC to discuss the brief, which partly focuses on the proposed renewal of the corporation's Royal Charter in 2016
Of course, whilst it will be a huge win, whichever shop takes the prize will not be the sole shop working on the BBC's creative business, with the corporation intending to keep its options open when it comes to working with other agencies. A BBC spokesman said they are currently reviewing their advertising roster, “To improve the strategic planning of marketing activity and deliver value for licence-fee payers,” adding that they will “On occasion,” work with other agencies, and that a “Formal announcement” will be made concerning their final decision in due course.
BBC Music - “God Only Knows”
As far as Karmarama and the BBC are concerned, he said the independently owned, London-based agency will “Continue to work on the BBC Music brief this financial year” and will also be one of the “Other” agencies they work with next year. He hopes that they will continue with the great work they have done on the company's “Youth and music briefs.” Ben Bilboul, group chief executive of Karmarama, said the agency are “Very proud” of the “God Only Knows” spot they spent almost 2 years creating for BBC Music, and are “Looking forward to continuing (their) relationship on this and other projects” in the future.
Karmarama recently beat two competing agencies in the final stages of the pitch for leading peer-to-peer lending company, Funding Circle
In related news; whilst Karmarama might have dropped out of the main BBC race, it recently beat two competing agencies in the final stages of the pitch for leading peer-to-peer lending company, Funding Circle. As a result of the review, which was managed by Squadron Venture Media, Karmarama will be tasked with creating a national TV campaign as the first creative agency to exclusively handle media for the company. The company was set up in 2010 to allow its users to lend money to small businesses via a crowd funding system, and it has already managed to process more than £180 million. Bilboul said “Funding Circle are a hugely inspiring and innovative team with a fantastic purpose helping businesses who want to grow,” and Karmarama are “Absolutely thrilled to be chosen as their partners.”
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK who genuinely didn't realise Royal Charters were still a legitimate thing until this morning!
