Mumbai: After a three way pitch, PR agency Mischief has acquired the account to re-brand the UK based Virgin radio now owned by TIML, a subsidiary of The Times Of India. The agency will put in ?15m in a PR campaign to build the new brand, according to reports.
The agency has poached Lexis PR’s Ben Dutton as joint creative director to work on the new account. Recent reports have suggested that the new Virgin brand will be unveiled by the end of August.
Mischief will attempt to target the current Virgin radio listeners as well as new listeners with its multiplatform campaign. Mischief MD Mitchell Kaye heads the account, reporting to Virgin Radio head of comms Cat Macdonald.
The ad agency would be working for two months before the station is launched which would later be extended future after the launch. The Radio station has an in-house press team of four.
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The re-launch of the radio station is happening after TIML took over Scottish Media Group (SGM) in ?53m. The Virgin radio brand will disappear after 90 days of the acquisition on 30 June.
Acquiring the Virgin brand reportedly would have cost TIML an extra ?8m, but it is also rumoured that Virgin refused to grant rights to the licensing of its iconic moniker.
Star breakfast DJ Christian O’Connell and DJ duo JK and Joel will continue to work at the new station while Virgin Radio’s marketing director David Lloyd is leaving the station.
The new owner is given the right to built online, TV and other spin off. TOI will also expand into social networking, downloading and gaming.The station will run in combination of Times Infotainment Media Limited, and consortium partner Absolute Radio, the European group that already owns the music station Jack FM in Oxford. The deal adds Virgin Radio, which operates under an AM license nationwide and FM in the London area.
