News: Shop to handle Green Flag £10m ad account - MarketingWeek

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/55887/355/310/3?eid=e12&ln=agy03: "Shop to handle Green Flag £10m ad account

Green Flag has confirmed it has appointed Shop to handle its £10m advertising account following a protracted review, as first predicted in Marketing Week yesterday (Wednesday). The agency is thought to have beaten Farm in a final pitch to win the business.
Shop will also handle below-the-line activity for the breakdown company, which is part of the RBS Group. MRM Partners was the incumbent on Green Flag's promotional account and was asked to repitch for the business but it is understood that the company was looking for one agency to handle its above- and below-the-line accounts.
Green Flag began approaching agencies at the start of December last year and the review was managed by Creative Brief. It is thought Shop will be asked to relaunch Green Flag as a challenger brand to the AA and the RAC.
Shop managing director Caspar Thykier says: "Green Flag is an ambitious brand that is looking for great creativity to get cut-through. We've applied some fresh thinking to do just that."
Sources claim the pitch was delayed by a series of management changes at Green Flag, although a spokesman for the company denies this was the case. Managing director of UKI Partnerships, which manages the Green Flag brand, Andy Watson left the company at the start of this year (MW January 11), and it is thought that agencies pitched to members of Direct Line's marketing department, rather than UKI marketing director Hilary Williams.
MediaCom, which handles Green Flag's media planning and buying account, is unaffected by the advertising review."